My Princess
by hemmingsangel
Summary: Courtney is the princess of of the United Kingdom was on a ride to France, when her ship was suddenly taken over by Duncan, the infamous pirate captain otherwise known as the Prince of the Seven Seas.
1. Chapter 1

Courtney leaned against the pristine railing of the royal ship.

The wind was whipping her hair everywhere, tangling it up and flinging it every which way. It was getting unbelievably annoying. She would have gone below decks, but standing there at the railing was the closest thing to freedom she could get on this ship.

She scolded at the sparkling sea whizzing along below her. She heard a cry go up and lifted her head, looking curiously to see where all the commotion was coming from. Sailors rushing about, doing sailor things. Courtney stood there all the ruckus, feeling a strange mixture of irritation and helplessness.

The captain of the ship (Courtney had forgotten his name) sped down the stairs from the upper decks; boots clacking on the wood.

"Courtney, get below decks, quickly! We have a pirate ship heading straight for -"

He was cut off as a series of shouts sounded and suddenly, the glint of blades was everywhere and Courtney felt entirely confused.

There was a pirate ship, just next to theirs. Several of the crew had swiftly boarded, and cutlasses had slipped out of their sheaths and were now sparring.

The captain pulled out his own blade and began to attack. Courtney pressed herself up against the railing, hoping she wouldn't be noticed amid the chaos.

It was all very inconvenient.

She slunk cover, dodging the fighting pirates. They didn't seem to care much about Courtney's presence. Their top priority was the flashing blades in front of them.

She hid beneath an overhang, boxes stacked in front of her. Blades clashed with a jarring rhythm. Courtney knew how to fight, even though she was a princess, she did indeed take lessons, but there didn't seem to be a blade available.

She watched the battle apprehensively from her hiding place. As much as she willed it to be otherwise, the pirates seemed to be winning.

The captain of the ship seemed to be holding his own. He had downed several pirates, whose bodies now laid on the deck of the royal ship. The clean, well-kept deck was stained with blood in places. Courtney cringed at the sight.

Several gunshots sounded, but Courtney couldn't be sure whether they were the royal shots, or if the pirates had guns, too. She hoped not, but considering her luck right then, she figured it was the opposite.

She watched one, two pirates fall, but then a royalist. Another pirate, two royalists, It was even, no wait, No, it wasn't. The pirates were -

"Courtney!"

She heard the voice of Bridgette rang out, and the whiz and skid of a bullet just near her head. She flinched and ducked to hide, but it was no good.

She knew the pirate had seen her.

One of the dirty scum soon had her by the collar of her dress and a knife to her throat. The hard metal of the blade dug in her skin. He was yanked away viciously.

"It's the princess!" the pirate shouted, holding Courtney up like a trophy. The chaos paused and changed, and suddenly. Courtney was being hauled to the pirate ship, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. The captain had a knife to his throat and looked at her with sorrowful eyes then said something to - what Courtney thought was the captain of the pirate ship.

"Let's make a trade, give me your precious princess in exchange for the rest of your crews lives to be spared. Do we have a deal?" Captain Duncan asked and held his knife to the other captain's throat.

The other captain looked at the princess with sorrowful eyes and said,

"We have a deal." He sighed once the knife was away from his throat.

_What a sweet, sweet trade. _Captain Duncan thought.

Now all that was left was the captain and a group of battle-worn sailors, still in shock from the sudden surprise attack.

Her feet stumbled as she was tugged across the ship, in front of the crowd of low lives. _This is where it ends, uh?_ The princess thought.

Someone shackled her hands and blindfolded her. Courtney raised her voice in protest, which was only followed by a swift rag.

She could still hear.

She was then forced to her knees. She heard boots clack around her. She took a deep breath through her nose and prepared to meet her maker.

"Spare her. To the brig," a voice said off-handedly.

She was dragged along the rough wood of the deck to who knows where.

"So, this is the famous Princess Courtney," a voice said. They sounded quite young, whoever they were. "Huh."

Courtney could tell that a door was being opened and the lighting dimmed as she was led in. The pirate shoved her up against the wall and attached several chains to her shackles. The metal chain dropped to the floor with a heavy and resounding thunk.

This situation was one she never would have imagined herself getting into.


	2. Chapter 2

The chains that were kept tight reminded heavy at both of her wrists and ankles. Her position within the dark and damp room was supported with only a single dim candle that hung above in the lantern, which from her prediction, was on the verge of burning out of the wax within the next twenty minutes or so.

Slowly, she brought one of her weighted hands upward to run through her dirty hair.

Courtney never imagined herself being tied up nor being kidnapped a couple of hours ago. When she had been pouting and sulking over the fact that she'll be crossing the English Channel towards France to begin her culture studies away from home.

Now, that was a thought of the past because of the pirates.

Pirates...

They'd come so swiftly within the night, like a lighting strike precise and quicker than you can register.

The ship was invaded by a swarm of sea criminals and she'd tried to take cover. But she herself knew that once the ship was taken over, no one could stop them. She had told them that they could take anything they wanted; just spare the ship and the crew along with it.

Not that her words as a royal had any effect on the pirates.

She'd nearly been killed with a bullet to her throat when Bridgette yelled out her name, thrashing about from the arms of another pirate.

"Let go of me!" Bridgette yelled and thrashed against the pirate. The pirate shoved a cloth on her as, she blacked out.

Her identity as princess had been disclosed instantly, and instead of being shot, one of the pirate's crew member commanded that she be spared. Their accents had been English, but it did nothing to narrow down the possibilities of whose ship it was, she'd be shackled, gagged, and blindfolded on.

Just like that Courtney had been whisked away from her royal ship and onto the more unpredictable, unknown ship of a group of pirates.

After the guy who had brought her up into this room chained her up to the walls, and locked her then left. Courtney found herself thinking about a lot of things, especially when she felt the ship move a few minutes after.

She was probably the only one from the ship that was still alive.

Everyone else was probably dead.

She tired hard to not think about it, but just imaging Bridgette's lifeless body was somewhere under the English Channel was enough to bring tears to her blindfolded eyes. Not only that but knowing how dirty and ruthless pirates could be, her life would more or less likely be ending somewhere along the line.

It was all hopeless.

Who would have even thought that the princess of the United Kingdom would be left like this?

Time seemed to move unbelievably slow within the humid room. Every move the ship took, Courtney could feel and though the waves outside had been rather docile the last time she checked, she still felt massive nausea from the rocking she was unwillingly focused on.

She scowled heavily as she heard the chattering of men bypassing the door in the hallway outward. The pirates she was dealing with were apparently of mixed nationalities. The voices she heard seemed to be two men.

When the voices finally died down, Courtney felt herself relax.

Though if they weren't there for her, then _someone_ would be eventually.

In the mean time, her thoughts traveled back to everyone else.

How would her parents react when they find out that her ship hadn't arrived in France in the morning as planned? How would the country react? That the princess was gone. They might as well account her as deceased.

Her mother would cry, no doubt. Grief would rip at her farther's soul as well.

Both undeniably take pain in the fact that it was their decision to send her to France to study abroad.

Courtney wished that she could just tell them that it wasn't their fault, it was these damned, selfish, better off fucking dead, pirates fault.

If Courtney had it her way , she'd send them all the way to the gallows a million times over.

They were all so _selfish_.

Nothing but a bunch of petty pirates looting ships and killing innocents.

Footsteps were heard from down the hall, rapidly approaching her door and Courtney allowed her thoughts to wonder off, so that she could focus on the impending couple that talked from the outside of the thin walls of the room.

"Tell Geoff that I said thanks for getting all of that straightened out by the way. Christ, if I'd been there I'm pretty sure most of them would've been tossed overboard by now."

A laugh was heard, further then the voice that was quite obviously by the door.

"Gotcha, capt! Also, all the silk that we got, DJ and I were wondering if we should put them in the treasury room or in your private quarters."

With a bitter scowled, she knew the silk was from her ship.

The silk was worth _so much_ and it was stolen by these unworthy pieces of shit like it was nothing.

"The treasury is fine, Owen Now if you'll excuse me, I have an important date with a special someone."

The tone of voice the speaker did nothing short but infuriate to Courtney's blood despite herself. She did _not _like how the man was talking, it was too cocky.

"Oh? You mean the princess? This is her room, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I've been too busy dealing with other things on the ship and I wanted to ship the rest of my night with her."

"Oh ho! Well then don't mind me, Captain Duncan! 'll just be on my way to the treasury room, then!" With that and a ring of laughter, the toned voice seemingly disappeared down the hall.

A creak of the door sounded throughout Courtney's ears, and the brunette stiffened immediately as she was tossed out of her thoughts. The door was opened; and the presence of another person within the room made the royal hold her breath.

Captain Duncan.

The man outside called him _Captain Duncan._

Panic filled Courtney's body as she thought about the situation even more.

The same Captain Duncan that invaded, looted, and sunken over eight hundred ships in one single year. The Captain known throughout the British Isles as the Prince of the crimson seas, due to the amount of blood spilled in the water whenever he robbed a ship. The Captain was rumored to be the most brutal and deadliest pirate to dominate the waters of the world.

The infamous Captain Duncan, the prince of the seven seas.

Courtney was on his ship.

Death was imminent no matter what she did.

She was more over prepared for a slap in the face or something along the lines of that. Courtney bit her bottom lip silently as she waited for something to come, but it never did.

Instead, she found herself stiffen as she felt a pair of hands at the side of her head.

In front of her, she could practically see the shadow of the pirate as she felt the blindfold over her eyes loosen before being pulled away.

Courtney's eyes were instantly with the light for the first time in hours, and the new face of a smirking, raven haired.

"Hmm, you have such pretty eyes."

She had to blink a few times to make sure that she was registering everything clearly.

This young man was Captain Duncan?

This had to be a joke!

He couldn't be older than twenty!

Courtney herself wasn't that old, only nineteen in fact, but this _was_ Captain Duncan? The pirate that struck fear into sailors everywhere? The coldblooded murder of the seven seas?

"Don't you dare touch me!" Courtney hissed while pulling her head upward, a glare forced on Duncan's face,"Don't you dare lay your hands on me you filthy pirate!"

Seemingly unprepared for this reaction, Ducan's mouth formed an 'o' shape as he watched Courtney his eyes first brimming with confusing to amusement.

Courtney whimpered as she tried pushing herself against the wall behind her, her hands sliding on the wooden floor smoothly,"I demand that you release me, now! I will not remain a captive to some child playing pirate!"

She had to keep firm in what she wanted.

Duncan, on the other hand looked intimidated, in fact his smirk seemed to grow as he looked at Courtney plainly ,"You know, even among pirates, when meeting someone you tend to introduce yourself. Here I was thinking that since you're a royal you'd have more manners than the men I deal with. Haha, some princess you are."

He was mocking her, how dare he!

"Like I give a fuck about manners! I don't want to be here! Unchain me and send me back to England now!" Courtney exclaimed.

"All I want is for you to introduce yourself to me. It isn't that hard, you know. Now stop shouting, I'm right next to you..." Duncan remarked with a shake of his head as he moved from squatting to sitting.

"If I introduce myself will you let me go?" Courtney knew the answer but it was worth trying.

Duncan hummed slightly, his eyes watching her slyly. "Maybe, maybe not."

It was a hollow response because they both knew that he wouldn't do any of the sort.

"I'm Courtney, princess of United Kingdom and Ireland, thought I am pretty sure you already knew that." Courtney said keeping her eyes on Duncan's face.

"It's a _pleasure _to met you, your highness." Duncan said and bowed mockingly.

Courtney wished that her hands were free so she could slap that little shit in the face. He still had that cocky smirk on his face.

"I'm Duncan, prince of the seven seas and captain of this ship, Ravenwood; thought I'm sure you already knew that." Duncan jeered before his hand caught under Courtney's chin. The royal hardly had time to resist before her head was forcibly turned to face the young captain who had a smirk rested on his face. "Welcome onboard my ship, because you won't be getting off anytime soon."

Shaking her head for release, Courtney brought her eyes to leer at him,"Don't. Touch. Me."

"I still need to go over a few ground rules that the Ravewood has as you seem to be a wild passenger." Duncan shook his head almost pitifully as he rose to his feet.

Courtney glared at the wooden floor before she heard the raven haired captain speak once more,"But I'll tell you the first and most important rule now, princess."

Without warning, Courtney found herself release a strangled gasp as her neck was pulled upward roughly as a cold and thick metal collar was clasped over her neck tightly by Duncan as the pirate started down into Courtney's eyes as he bent downward at her, the captain's eyes filled with nothing but brutality that managed to put Courtney's voice to a halt of all protests.

Duncan let out a breath, more husky than before as he watched down at Courtney stoically,"Everyone and everyone on this ship belongs to _me_, the captain. It does not matter who you are or how you feel about it. If you're on this ship, you are _mine_. And don't you dare think otherwise."

Before Courntey could register the threateningly calm words in her mind, Duncan let go of the rope end collar and stormed out of the room.

With her throat now left open for air, but the sliver collar still over her neck, Courtney panted lowly as she touched the tight neck piece. Squinting under the dim light in the room, her eyes moved to touch the rope piece of the collar Duncan was pulling at before.

_What had I done to deserve this? _


	3. Chapter 3

Time was unbearably slow.

Though it was slow, Courtney had to say she was grateful in a way.

Duncan hadn't put the blind fold back over her eyes before he stomped off and with that, Courtney got a full view of the dark and damp room he sat in. To say the place was horrible would be an understatement. Nothing but closed walls, a single lantern-candle above that had burned out of wax ages ago, and a door straight ahead that kept him reminded that he was a prisoner… Well, that and practically everything else around her.

Her good clothes were further dirtied from sitting on the grim coated floorboards. Having that in mind, she could only imagine how torn up she looked.

Even if the capture of her ship had to only have been a few hours back, Courtney knew that she must have looked a mess. From her resistance since she'd been subdued and tied she had worked up a sweat and being placed in this salt smelling box, it wasn't exactly helping her. Around her she could feel every rock the ship made and at any rate she could assume his position on the massive boat was toward the lower levels.

Courtney's thoughts fleeted to her fate at this point.

She knew wasn't going to be killed, or at least she wasn't going to be just yet.

Her fingers trailed over the cold collar fastened to her neck. Even though her wrists were still heavy and gave the low clanks while she moved, it was the reminder of her lifeline that extended out farther than those not so fortunate.

That only she was still alive and collared was because she was a princess… She'd have to be daft to not know that.

Her knowledge of the slave trade was vastly limited though considering how Duncan just shackled her and left, it was kind of safe to assume that though Courtney wouldn't be on the ship very long, when she got off, things wouldn't be much brighter.

From a princess to someone's slave.

Not if she had anything to say about it.

She'd refuse and defy everything. She would much rather jump overboard while doing a barrel roll to be at the mercy of the sea creatures down under. Her fall from grace would be one that was honorable at the very least.

The familiar sound of feet moving in favor of the hall hit Courtney's ears and she found herself tensing up instantly.

Courtney released a preparatory breath and pushed herself against the wall behind her to sit more upright as the door knob audibly turned and was opened,

"It sure is dark in here...Duncan didn't think to change the light in the candle before he ran off to his room?"

Clearly a male with a young voice, Courtney found herself watching up through her hair as the stranger, with an oil lamp clutched by the handle. A man with blond hair that appeared somewhat exasperated by everything in the room.

"Christ and look at this room… What the hell was Duncan thinking?" He ran a hand through his hair as placed the burning lamp on the hook that once held the lifeless candle in replacement.

Unable to help herself, Courtney cringed, "I doubt he's capable of doing that. I'm willing to bet that he never had a proper education."

She didn't know why she talked. Honestly, the man within the room with her could have very well just turned to her and slapped or kicked her for speaking bad of the captain of the ship, not to mention it wasn't like Courtney's opinion would mean anything.

"Yeah, you're right. He doesn't think much… Or at all." The words weren't laced with sarcasm as Courntey intentionally expected, "But anyways, I'm Geoff, the First Mate of Ravenwood."

"Charmed." Courtney cynically remarked, her body not relaxing against the man within the room.

He was a criminal after all, no matter how harmless he seemed…

Geoff didn't seem to pay much attention to Courtney's clear underlying message of 'Fuck off' and whistled lowly, "So, do you want to stay in those clothes all night or would you rather I fetch something for you?" He arched a brow in curiosity and the royal found herself perking up.

Biting her bottom lip, Courtney sighed,"Is it just an empty offer and you're just getting my hopes up for nothing?"

"I would ask why you wouldn't believe me, but then again I suppose if I were in your position I would trust no man on this ship." Geoff chuckled out lowly, "I may be a wanted criminal, but I see no need to lie about something as small as clothing."

Courtney scowled lightly… As appealing as a change of clothes seemed, she much rather take a bath first before that change.

She contemplating asking for a bath, but she had a feeling the ship was void of anything rooms to do so.

Disgusting pirates.

She truly had nothing to lose, so he nodded his head.

Geoff smiled, "Brilliant." He approached the seated royal before he went fished in his pocket for a large bundle of keys. Despite the fact that all looked basically like clones, Geoff appeared to know them apart as he sorted through them all on the single metal ring they were lined up on.

"What are you doing, Geoff?"

The familiar voice was enough to send a groan out of Courtney's mouth as she rested her forehead on her arm.

Duncan stood by the door, an eyebrow raised upward as he watched ahead at the pair in what seemed to be annoyance.

Geoff's eyes looked upward to the ceiling before he released a sigh and turned to face the young captain at the door way. "I was just—"

"When I asked what you were doing, I really meant, 'Have fun on your way out.'" He curtly intervened, "Didn't I order you to take care of that captive woman before I went off to my quarters? How is it that you ended up here?"

Captive woman…?

Could that be someone from Courtney's ship!? She was not the only survivor!?

Courtney's mind instantly began to race at the differently possibilities of who could still be alive and well for the moment.

Bridgette...Oh god. She could still be alive!

"You see, you ordered Beth, Owen, and I to take care of the remaining prisoners. Considering there are only three left, I figured you meant her in the mix as well and since you said we aren't to harm her, I was offering her a change of clothes to be more 'homely'." He added air quotes to the word, though that suspicious gesture was the last thing on Courtney's mind.

That women could be Bridgette!

"That women! Geoff, do you know her name!?" Courtney desperately questioned the blond that turned his head backward at her curiously, though before he could respond, Duncan was speaking,

"I thought I was essentially clear when I said from the beginning that the only person allowed to visit the Princess was me. I don't want the others on the ship getting a hold of her lest something happen that would ruin my plans."

Too warped up in her thoughts on Bridgette, Courtney didn't have time to remark Duncan on the 'Princess' comment, instead she gave a loud shout,"Hey! I was trying to ask him a fucking question, okay!?" She barked out at both pirates that were instantly silenced as they turned to the chained female in surprise at her outburst.

Huffing, Courtney moved her leer from Dunca to Geoff, "That woman… Do you know her name?"

Geoff shook his head, "Uh, no. I didn't even get a chance to see her. Beth was the one that took care of her."

Courtney instantly began cursing beneath her breath rapidly. She didn't like the way he said 'took care of her'… Right as he sat, Bridgette could be dying… If to say, she was even Brigette. It could have just been some random maid from the boat that she didn't even know.

"Let's say I know her name." Duncan's voice broke the silence.

Courtney reluctantly brought her head upward to watch at the raven haired captain that sauntered more into the room, his walk confident and powerful, "What do you want to know?"

"You're a filthy liar."

"True. But I am a captain. I always make it a responsibility of mine to stop by each prisoner's room after we've captured them so I can get to know them. Don't think just because you're royalty you were the only one." He winked at him with a smirk and Courtney cringed in disgust.

Duncan chuckled, "Her name is Bridgette. A pretty girl she is… That's why I made sure she wasn't killed when we looted your ship. With looks like that, she could go for a lot of money to a man willing to pay enough."

Unable to help herself, Courtney gritted her teeth, "So where is she right now?"

"In her quarters, more than likely with Beth if what Geoff said is true… Why are you so concerned? She's just a servant girl. She shouldn't mean anything to you, Princess unless you two have something going on that I should know about."

The last part of his sentence was said with a different tone unlike the rest of his speech that gave Courtney a feeling that Duncan was beginning to go Captain Hayes on her once more like he had before the collar had been slapped on her neck.

Not wanting to receive something else like a chain-linked collar, Courtney resisted the urge to groan and tried to remain firm to show she wasn't afraid, "It's none of your fucking business why I'm concerned. I also suggest you _stop _calling me Princess before I—"

A knock was heard on the door and Courtney found herself pausing his words as someone stuck their head in with a grin,

"So, the chef just finished cooking, guys!"

A blond haired male happily exclaimed, his expression incredibly excitedly and lit up with a flask of innocence that made Courtney's eyes squint. His tone was matched in Courtney's mind with the same pirate that had passed the door along with Duncan before he'd met the insufferable captain.

But now that she got a look at him… The blond looked vaguely familiar…

Geoff nodded slowly, his eyes cautiously eyeing the glee-filled youth who couldn't have been any older than Courtney herself…

It seemed like a majority of the crew was younger than 30!

"Thanks for the news report, Owen." Geoff remarked as he sped walked past Duncan, "You know what, I am pretty hungry though. The chef cooked the stuff we stole from Courtney's ship right? Well, sounds great. Sorry, Courtney! Bye, Duncan!" Geoff's hands made it to Owen's shoulders while he guided him out the room and down the hall way causing the man blinked in confusion,

"Wait, what?"

"Let's go, Owen!"

With the two gone, Courtney grunted as she turned her attention back to the sole other being within the cramped room.

The arrogant, cocky Captain Hayes.

Duncan flipped his hair with a breath, "Any who, I came here to let you know that I got a bath ready for you, Princess. I know you royals constantly take bathes like no ones business so I thought setting one up would make you feel more at home."

The undertone of mockery in those words made Courtney crazy.

Couldn't this dick head see that in reality, Courtney was much bigger than him?

"I want to see Bridgette." Courtney stated with no mind to what Duncan had just informed her.

The Prince of the Seven Seas arched a brow, "Unfortunately, visiting hours are over for the day. Now, I suggest you get yourself ready for your bath."

"First of all, I don't give a damn if 'visiting hours' are over! I just want to talk to her at least once, which shouldn't be such a big deal! And how the fuck am I supposed to get ready for a bath!? Repeat that sentence and look at me all chained to the fucking wall and tell me to get ready again! What do you want me to do!? Grab a towel and some soap!?" Courtney snapped out in impatience.

Her temper boiled over and she kept a steady glower on the standing raven haired.

Duncan took his shouts with a grain of salt however, "Alright, I'll make a deal with you, Your Highness. If you agree to the bath without any pouts or royal complaints, I'll let you visit your precious Bridgette."

Courtney heaved a breath, but nodded silently.

Shee had not the slightest clue how this was even a deal… Courtney was benefiting from it on both sides.

A bath _and _she got to see Bridgette, whom she hoped was doing well enough considering the circumstances.

As Duncan got to his knees and approached himself over Courtney, the royal found herself stiffening as the captain began to crouch over her to unlock the metal cuffs. Wordlessly, Courtney eyed as the male expertly and smoothly worked with unlocking both her wrists and ankles.

"If you even try to escape, you'll be sorry. So don't even try." Duncan warned out simply as he stood up.

Courtney couldn't help but counter, "Where am I suppose to escape? The shopping centre down the street?"

Duncan didn't reply and Courtney had to roll her eyes while she worked on massaging her sore wrists…

They were red and bruised and still held a dull pain to them.

When Duncan began walking out, Courtney struggled on her weak legs to catch up to the retreating captain that didn't seem at all concerned with the royal's slower walking abilities. The two made it out into the hall and as they walked past all the numerous doors, Courtney found herself wondering how it is that this man was actually Duncan Hayes.

"What do you even plan on doing with me?" She found herself asking in curiosity, not fear.

Duncan didn't turn around, his swagger not failing, "I'll be honest. I know I can get a lot of money out of you from others eager to get their hands on any of the Royal Family… But I'm not either a money grabber or one to kill for vengeance… Well, I am in both respects, but not in this case. My plans with you are fairly complicated… I'm still sorting it out in my head, but don't worry about it." Duncan waved off uncaringly, as though Courtney's own fate was none of the importance.

Courtney actually found herself gaping at the back of Duncan's head, "You can't be serious."

"Hm?"

"You're a fucking asshole, you know that right!? You can't tell me not to worry about my life! What do you even want with me!? If it's not money or revenge against my family, what!? There's honestly nothing else I can give you!" She insisted heavily,

Duncan gave a chuckle as he halted his steps and turned to face the fuming princess, "That's a lie."

Confused, Courtney watched Duncan size her with a skeptical hand to her chin, "What is that even supposed to mean?" Courtney inquired in irritation. She didn't like the way Duncan was staring at her.

Duncan shook his head, "You ask a lot of questions."

"You don't have many answers."

"Touché. But I have a question… What's your relationship with this Bridgette girl? She your sister or something?" He was back to walking forward and Courtney laughed, "Bridgette? No. Don't get me wrong, I wish she was, but she's just a close friend of mine. Not that it's any of your business."

It was true.

Bridgette was just a close friend. She was the daughter of Courtney's personal nurse and the two had grown up together as best friends. She was someone that she had been glad was traveling with her to France, but since the whole pirate-invasion… She wasn't so glad about that anymore.

"Right, right." Duncan airily said as though he hadn't even been listening, "But look, I changed my mind. You can talk to her after your bath."

Courtney gave the captain a furious look that wasn't seen, "What!? Why!?"

"Because I changed my mind. Nothing else to it. I am the captain and I suggest you don't question my authority," He moved his head over to give Courtney a smirk that made the princess bit her bottom lip in an attempt to keep all her angry pent up,

"Captain my ass…" Courtney muttered beneath her breath in disdain as she kept after Duncan.


	4. Chapter 4

"Do you really have to stand there?" Courtney groaned with a sigh.

After Courtney had been escorted to the upper levels of the ship and she had been forced to endure the degrading shouts and sneering exclamations from the various members of the ship's crew while she followed after Duncan who simply laughed at his men's words as though they were sharing nothing but jokes, Courtney had ended up in Duncan's cabin. While pulling Courtney's collar, Duncan guided her to a door in the back that led to a bedroom.

It was far smaller from Courtney's own room back at her own palace, and far dirtier. The smell of salt water and algae had been near over-whelming. Duncan then began to the rear of the room where a furnace was placed.

Already knowing how those of low class took bathes when the time was given, Courtney found herself groaning with a hand to her temple when Duncan pulled out the large bathing tub near the lightly burning fireplace.

She had expected Duncan to leave once she got settled and aware of where the soap and cleaning devices were, but the captain just stood by the door… Watching her.

Marking the reason why Courtney didn't want to take off her clothes and enter the tub.

"It's my room." Duncan replied with a shrug, his expression neutral.

Though that was a point to consider, Courtney knew it was all bullshit.

"You're a captain. You should be making sure your ship is alright, shouldn't you? Not standing in here watching me."Courtney heavily insisted with a cringe to her facial features.

The idea of Duncan watching her take off her clothes and take a bath was a thought that sent shivers down the royal's back. It was creepy not to mention repulsive. Someone like him didn't have a right to look at her in plain form let alone without anything clothing.

Duncan's eyes twinkled in amusement, "I suppose you're right. But I have to make sure you don't try to escape. You're a prisoner on my ship, remember?"

It was hard to forget.

"I don't see what the problem is… Take off your clothes and get into the tub before the water chills." Duncan insisted with a wave of his hand, his tone more impatient than it previously was.

"The problem is—"

"That was an order. Don't you dare think for a second you can disrespect an order from your captain."

"But—can't you stand out the door?" Courtney questioned, because there was no way in hell that she would undress in front of him.

Duncan narrowed his gaze,"Hmm, I suppose so." Courtney looked at him, hoping he'd say yes. "Fine, but this is only time I will allow it, Princess."

Courtney nodded and watched him walk to the door, leaving it open just a crack. It took a while for the royal to undo her dress, but once she was done. she entered the bathtub. Her body lowered in the lukewarm water, right when Duncan entered the room again with clothes in his hand.

"Once you are done with your bath, Princess." Duncan said and laid the clothes on his bed. "You can change into these, Lindsay gave them to me, because I doubt you'll fit into Beth's clothes."

Even thought Courtney was being held captive, she was thankful that Duncan allowed her to take a bath, have fresh clothes, _and _get to see Bridgette.

"Thank y-." Courtney said.

Before Courtney could finish, a knock was heard on the door.

Beth tried not to sigh as the door to Duncan's bedroom was torn open ever so suddenly, instantly ceasing Geoff's knock over it.

She told them to wait until he came out before asking him about this, but nooooo.

The boys on this ship were so impatient.

Duncan glared over all of them as they stood within his cabin room, "What the hell are you guys doing now?"

Behind her, Beth could feel Bridgette trembling in obvious fear and nervousness. Reassuringly, the female gave a motion to her shoulders to allow the peasant girl to ease up her nerves, though it wasn't much.

Not that Beth could blame her.

Duncan on his own had the worst temper on the ship and his irritation, which this clearly was, resembled the average pirate's rage. Lucky enough for her, she'd never been the one his true anger had been directed at.

"Someone's pouty." DJ snorted with his arms crossed over his chest.

Duncan sent him a glower and Owen chuckled as he attempted to see past Duncan into the bedroom, "I wonder why! What's going on in there, mate?" He curiously inquired, causing Duncan to pull in the door abruptly.

He narrowed his eyes at the blond, though it did little to settle him down.

"Fucking the princess into the mattress." DJ coughed into his fist with an innocent look off that immediately gained a giggle from Beth and laughs from both Geoff and Owen.

Bridgette's eyes grew slightly wide and Duncan rolled his eyes.

The amount of rumors that circulated on the ship from the simple moment of Duncan crossing the deck with Courtney in a collar stirred up too many hilarious jokes of the two getting into a BDSM relationship within the ship. Beth took all of these as jokes, not being able to imagine Duncan as the type…

DJ, Owen, and Geoff appeared to think otherwise.

"Why haven't I tossed you all overboard yet?" Duncan dryly questioned,

"Because you need us, mate." Geoff answered, "You need us."

"Yeah, not like how he needs the princess though…" Owen wiggled his eyebrows easily earning DJ and Geoff's laughs.

Beth shook her head as she shushed the chuckling males, "I know you haven't tossed me overboard because let's be honest, among the whole crew of males, you need at least two female on deck to actually keep your sanity straight."

With Duncan's attention on her along with everyone else, Beth flipped a piece of her hair with a sigh, "As such, I am making a request to you as the captain of Ravenwood. Hear me out as a faithful crew member for nearly two years now." She moved aside and gestured toward Bridgette that shyly watched at Duncan as all eyes within the room turned on her.

"I ask that you accept Bridgette onto the crew."

"I personally sponsored that idea." Geoff threw in helpfully,

Owen and DJ shrugged, the two looked half-interested in the ordeal, "Another girl on board seems nice." Niall said simply, "She doesn't look like she eats as much as Owen so I say why not?" DJ agreed, though he gained a blank stare from the man in question.

Duncan paused thoughtfully, his face contorting up in his thoughts before he glanced backward into his bedroom.

While he did so, Beth turned around to Brigette who seemed to be just about ready to pass out from anxiety. Smiling comfortingly, Beth nodded at her to stay confident and positive before moving back to Duncan, who was now turning back to them seriously,

"This is a serious discussion that would require me to put aside everything and talk to you all for a while—"

"Which you can do right now, right?" Owen slowly raised a brow.

Duncan opened his mouth, "Well—"

"He can, but he won't because his pet-prince is chained to the bed right now waiting for him." DJ teased with a shrug to his shoulders, easily ignoring Duncan's nasty leer his way.

One thing that Beth could admire of them…

Duncan only seemed to take that kind of talk from Owen, DJ, and Geoff... Anyone else and she was pretty sure Captain Hayes would unleash the inner beast and pretty much toss them over the ship with his bare hands.

"You know what? Fuck it. Let's just get this over with." Duncan groaned as he exited out his bedroom, closing the door behind him slickly before he turned his eyes to Brigette stoically, "We can talk about this right here and now. Explain."


	5. Chapter 5

By the time Courtney got out of the tub, the water had already been chilled to an uncomfortable degree. She knew for the most part waiting so long in the water was rather risky, considering she had no clue when Duncan would enter the room again.

When the captain had exited, he only told Courtney to not leave the room until he came back.

On the other side of the door, she had heard Owen's loud voice above all else and perhaps Geoff as well? Courtney hadn't been too focused on the conversation; instead she was left to think while she cleansed herself.

Bridgette was meant to be sold off because Duncan was a douchebag. How the hell would she even manage to see sweet, innocent Brigette being shipped off into the black market? The precious girl could hardly bake a cake without burning her finger much less survive getting fucked by some gigantic, burly man who'd most likely buy her.

It was driving Courtney's mind crazy. If she only had herself to worry about, everything would be easier, but she had to try and find a way out of this for Bridgette.

Geoff was First Mate of the ship, and lad seemed friendly enough if Courtney had any say in the one minute conversation the two held. Perhaps he'd be easy to manipulate? If Courtney could get Geoff on her side, Geoff would be extremely useful in getting both her and Brigette off of the ship and to freedom.

Courtney just had to get to know Geoff better, but it'd practically be impossible if Duncan would be up his ass every second watching her with those intent blue eyes like a hawk.

It was plain to see that Duncan had some sort of sadistic feeling in regards to Courtney and she had a feeling that the more time she spent on the ship, the more violent Duncan's attitude would become. Sure for now it was suggestive humiliation, but soon enough it'd become more.

At any rate, Duncan had some sort of vendetta against the royal family, but that wasn't much of a surprise.

What pirate captain from the British Isles _didn't _have a problem with them?

Duncan's plans for her were still out in open water aside from the fact that Courtney knew she wouldn't be sold off like Bridgette was supposed to. Though that was good in a way, it also really wasn't…

The possibilities were seemingly endless. Though the collar signified that she'd live, life would be pretty meaningless if she was set to starve and wilt away from neglect and torture.

It was a scary thing to ponder on, but she knew she had to accept the fact that she wasn't in calmer tides at the moment… Even if it felt like this was all one twisted nightmare and she'd soon wake up in her large bed, sweating and laughing off the terrible life-like experience.

Until then…

Courtney over looked her dirtied clothes with a cringe. She couldn't put those back on.

She knew that she'd have to wear the clothes that Duncan had left her.

After drying herself off, she changed into green pants and a white button down top with a grey vest. She hadn't notice that there was also a pair of dark grey-almost black boots. Shrugging she put them on.

When she was finished, she weighed her current situation…

Duncan still wasn't back.

Although Duncan had been firm with telling Courtney to not leave the room, this was actually the royal's golden opportunity to get out and meet up with Geoff to possibly discuss business.

Letting out quick breath and patting her wet hair down, Courtney stealthily moved toward the single door within the cabin.

Her hand clasped over the knob as she leaned her ear against the door for any signs of noise on the other side of the door where Duncan's quarters was.

When she heard nothing else, the brunette slowly turned the doorknob before opening the wooden door.

As expected, the study-based room was empty. Courtney remained light on her feet to avoid any unnecessary noises that would alert anyone from anywhere on the ship of her presence despite the fact she was seemingly alone.

Creeping, she moved towards Duncan's large desk which was covered completely with open paper work and envelopes.

If she wanted to escape, knowing where the ship was headed would be a good start. Leaning his head over to read the contents of the letters, Courtney tried to pick up some sort of hint to the boat's route.

Delicately, her hand brushed over the papers to the top that were overlapping the others and she scowled lightly when her results were turning up short…

Journals entries, receipts, calculations, letters…

Moving her hands to shuffle the papers back to how they had previously been to see if he skimmed something over, Courtney gave a shiver as a stray draft hit her. Her hair still wet was releasing water droplets down her dry back and giving her a chill.

With a rub to her noise she rubbed away a drop of water that had landed on one of Duncan's journal entries that was from apparently two days ago if the day at the top was any asset.

"Defeated the Scarlet Eye's crew by the Bailiwick of Jersey… More rations from the battle… Geoff accounted everything… Hm…" Courtney impatiently read over in a low mumble, "Finally let Harold free from the post from his punishment last week… Crew seemed to be reminded of my lack of tolerance for disobedience…"

Reading the words, Courtney felt some unrest entering her stomach.

"No one seems to understand Ravenwood's set ideal that treason is treatable with death to those bold enough to oppose the Prince of the Seven Seas himself…" Courtney cringed with a scowl, "Cocky little shit…" She grumbled out while her finger trailed down the letter, "Finally heading back to Ireland because—"

_"Wait, Captain where is she going to sleep?"_

The loud voice that was clearer than the other muffled voices outside on deck was enough to make Courtney freeze in her spot at Duncan's desk. It was too close for comfort.

_"The hell should I know? Wherever she wants. If she gets raped at night for making the wrong arrangement, it's not my fault. I'm sure Beth and Lindsay would be willing to share quarters with her since Beth seemed so insistent on this."_

Recognizing Duncan's rapidly approaching voice made Courtney grunt as she came to the realization that the captain was on his way to the room once more.

If he saw Courtney here, reading through his stuff, he'd be furious.

_Beyond _furious.

Knowing danger when she saw it and recognizing this fight or flight situation, Courtney immediately attempted to recreate the image of the papers she had once shuffled through before she heard Duncan's hand turn at the knob of the door.

Already aware that she'd never make it to the door back to the bedroom, Courtney sucked in a breath before putting herself beneath the writing desk as slyly as she could, right at the same moment that Duncan entered the room.

With her back against the board of the desk, Courtney could only listen as she heard Duncan's thick black boots hit against the wooden floor, slowly passing her by and toward the bedroom door.

It now hit Courtney that when Duncan went in there, he'd be expecting to see her when she wasn't in there.

Just as she thought this, she heard Duncan slam the door shut very hard.

"Fucking little bitch."

She heard the captain curse out in a rather calm, but clearly _upset _manner.

Grunting for realizing how dumb she'd been to forget that, Courtney tried to recalculate some sort of plan that would allow her to make it out of this unscathed from the rage-driven pirate.

Courtney's back was beginning to grow a bit sore, but she knew she'd rather bear with that than the angry man within the room, so she stayed put as she craned her neck down closer to her pent up chest.

When Duncan left the room in search for her, Courtney would be able to make it out and return to the bedroom… That seemed to be her only way out at the moment.

Duncan's footsteps had paused and Courtney inwardly willed the young man to just step out for just enough time for the royal to make a swift run back to the bedroom, but when the pirate began to walk again, it wasn't in the direction Courtney wanted.

Duncan was silent now, though his steps seemed to be carried heavier, like he was exerting his anger through his feet while he approached the desk.

His feet and legs stopped right in front of the writing desk and Courtney held her breath, fearful that even her heartbeat would be audible to the captain.

Every second that went by seemed to be far too long for Courtney as she waited for the male to just pull away and walk out in search for her outside on deck rather than stay there…

Finally, after what felt to be eternity, Courtney heard Duncan give a chuckle, a low one that appeared to be filled with amusement, an emotion that greatly clashed with the male's earlier mood. Courtney bit her bottom lip in anxiety as she wondered what could have possibly changed the man's mood before the most heart stopping occurrence happened.

Duncan's pen fell in front of the open space that ultimately separated Courtney from Harry's legs.

"Oops." The male from above stated out.

Courtney felt her eyes grow wide as she stared at the pen that Duncan would have to bend to get and then see her, which would eventually end in Courtney receiving some sort of harsh punishment similar to that Harold-man that Duncan had left to bake in the Sun all day for a week with no food or water.

With a quick prayer, Courtney clenched up as she waited for Duncan to catch her, already accepting the fact she'd be caught.

However, Duncan never did reach for his fallen writing utensil.

"I am so clumsy." Duncan spoke to himself with another laugh that seemed so _fake _that Courtney had the biggest feeling that Duncan _knew _she was there and he was just toying with her.

But that couldn't be right… There was no way of him knowing…

An answer to her prayers, Duncan's feet began to walk away and Courtney could have let out a sigh of a relief though she chose not to as she listened to the pirate's boots walk in the direction of the single exit to the boat's open deck.

The door opened and was promptly closed and with that, Courtney instantly found her body relaxing beneath the wooden desk as she came to realize she just dodged a bullet.

Grasping her hand on the end of the desk, Courtney pulled herself out from under the desk with a heavy breath. Just as she stood up straight to stretch her cramping arms,she found herself growing rigid the moment her eyes met with Duncan's as the pirate captain leaned on the door frame, his arms folded over his chest while he watched Courtney with a serious expression on his face.

Courtney stopped her stretch slowly and awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck, "Well, what do you know? That wasn't the kitchen…" Shee lightly remarked as she averted his gaze from the glaring raven, "I'll just be on my way then." She professionally stated while she dusted off her shoulders.

Duncan pushed himself off of the door frame with a hand raised as he walked toward the royal, "Why were you going through my notes?"

"I wasn't going through your—"

Before she could finish, Duncan, on the other side of the desk picked up one of the letters and practically shoved it into Courtney's face,

"Don't lie when you can get caught red handed, Princess. Your hair still looks pretty damp and the last time I checked, my notes didn't have these little water marks on them."

Unable to find a response, Courtney twisted up her face after Duncan shot her a glower, "You disobeyed me."

"I was just—"

"I'm speaking." Duncan sternly intervened, "You disobeyed me when I told you to stay in that bedroom."

Courtney once more tried to defend herself, "No, you need to let me explain, I was just—"

His words were once more silenced into a slight gag as the rope end of her collar was suddenly yanked over the desk by Duncan who was staring at her even more dangerously, an annoyed look within his blue eyes, "Shut up. I don't give a damn about your explanations. You didn't listen, and now you're going to be punished."

Cursing the collar that had her at her ends, Courtney could only grunt in pain as she was pulled roughly around the table before she was before Duncan that still glared up at her as though Courtney had just murdered the man's family or something similar.

She tried again to open her mouth to avoid Duncan doing something entirely irrational, but before she could she found her eyes growing wide as her trousers were slipped down.

"What the hell are you—"

"Shut the fuck up. You don't have a right to speak." Duncan snapped out though Courtney resisted as the pirate captain aggressively tugged aside her underwear, he pinched her core, making her wince in pain with a low hiss.

Duncan watched her, a wicked glint in his eyes, "Under normal circumstances I don't deliver this punishment to just _anybody_." With his emphasis on the last word, he plunged one of his fingers in her, going in and out that instantly left a shiver going up the royal's spine.

Courtney tried to ignore the pleasant sensation that erupted throughout her as Duncan's fingers worked her.

She shouldn't be getting pleasure from this.

_Duncan _was touching her when he really shouldn't be.

This wasn't right.

This dirty, low-life criminal was molesting her and she should be able to push him away. He had no right.

Even if her more rational piece of mind had this sentiment up, Courtney could only try to contain her moan as Duncan sped up his pace.

Courtney could feel her face heated up as Duncan pushed her into the desk, causing it to rock violently. She was beginning to reach her peak of satisfaction that her brain was violently trying to oppose though it was resistant to obey, too pleased with the feeling of Duncan's hand running over it.

And just like that, he stopped as a knock was heard on the cabin's door.

Courtney's heartbeat that had sped up quickly within the past minute slowly came to terms with the lack of hand that was once there just a minute ago.

Gradually, Courtney opened her closed eyes to gaze at Duncan that appeared rather calm to the entrance, "Yes?" He called out when the knocking ceased.

"Permission to enter, Captain?" The voice on the other side of the door inquired and Louis came to the realization that if the male came in and saw both Duncan and Courtney in this sort of position, assumptions would be made.

People would know that Courtney Oxford, the Princess of the United Kingdom just got touched by a fucking pirate.

This wasn't real life.

It _couldn't _be.

When he was given the okay, Owen entered, right as Courtney finished pulling up her pants.

The blond paused in confusion as he looked between the two, an eyebrow arched as he seemed hesitant to fully enter, a plate filled with food in his hand along with a large cup. "Was I interrupting something?" He innocently questioned.

Duncan glanced over at Courtney, and the princess never felt more infuriated to see the smirk coming to the captain's face as he shook his head, "No, not at all."

Knowing how much she had on the line to keep herself together, Courtney gave a growl of annoyance before she shoved Duncan backward with as much force as she could muster in her body that was now beginning to reclaim feeling.

Clearly unprepared for the assault, Duncan was sent back on his feet about a foot back.

Owen gaped at them as Courtney shoved past him and onto the ship's deck without any care to what Duncan had to say to it.

"But I brought her food…" Owen lowly said with a frown as he watched the princess's back shrink as she stomped farther away.

* * *

**I don't even know, why I wrote that part. I just- I don't know. But yea, I hope you liked it. xx**


	6. Chapter 6

She didn't know where she was going, but anywhere that was away from Duncan was good. Hell, jumping off of the ship seemed like a great option at this point.

Courtney growled beneath her breath as she heard several cat calls and whistles tossed her way off-handedly from the lowly members of the ship. Just as the others she had encountered, all of them from what she saw at the corners of her eyes were young. Her age, maybe a bit older.

She didn't know much about pirates, but she was pretty sure that the average ship didn't have a crew entirely of 19 year olds. Especially with a captain that looked like he belonged in school seeing as Duncan appeared to be the youngest person onboard from what Courtney had seen so far.

It was still hard to align the fact that Duncan was Captain Hayes.

"Courtney?"

Preparing to snap at the disrespectful bastard that spoke her name so loosely, Courtney turned around and found herself facing Geoff.

The First Mate of the ship smiled faintly at her and Coutney was immediately hit with her plan from earlier.

Get Geoff on her side.

That meant putting her diplomacy and charismatic skills to the test.

"Hello, Geoff." Courtney gave the pirate a smile in return as she regarded the blond haired male in a friendly manner. This had to be the first time she smiled since getting on the ship.

Geoff appeared a bit confused at first, his eyes squinting at Courtney as though something were off, "What are you doing on deck? Did Duncan let you out?" His tone was cautious, almost as though he were choosing his words carefully.

"I really don't like how you say that as though I'm Duncan's pet. I'm out on deck because I want to be, that immature pirate be damned." Courtney scoffed out; she wasn't at all pleased with that. She couldn't deal with people assuming she was Duncan's little piece of property. But really, why would they think that?

Geoff blinked, clearly not anticipating that sort of reply, "Oh… Well, I'm sorry? Geez, Duncan was right. You _DO_ you have attitude."

"I don't have attitude. You pirates don't have respect."

"That's a bold thing to say especially when you're really just a prisoner on this ship. You know, just because I'm loyal to Duncan and I gave him my word that I wouldn't harm you… Some of the others of the crew have nasty tempers." Geoff informed vaguely with his eyes evaluating the brunette, "If you talk to them like this, you won't have a tongue to speak later."

Courtney cringed her nose.

Though she wanted to question why Geoff gave his word to Duncan to not harm her, she chose to keep the topic off of the smirking, overconfident little shit.

With her arms folded, Courtney arched a brow, "Oh? Like who?"

Geoff shrugged lightly, "Just the fellows that seem to act before thinking. I'm positive Duncan will get them afterwards but if you provoke them, it won't be pretty."

Not that that did anything to scare Courtney. If some idiot came to her like an asshole, they better prepare themselves to be treated as an idiotic asshole.

However, out of the blue, Courtney found herself being reminded of something vastly important to her plans of escape.

"Can you take me to see Brigette?" She asked seriously while locking eyes with Geoff.

Dealing with Geoff was quite possibly the easiest feat that Courtney was given since setting foot on Ravenwood. Though the only people she truly dealt with were Geoff and Duncan, Courtney would rather the polite and soft-spoken blond over the smirking, big-headed captain any day.

Geoff had guided her to the room floor of the ship and taken her to the far corners where he said that the higher ups of the crew had their own quarters as the rooms were bigger than the average pirate's onboard. Not as big as Duncan's obviously, but still better than a normal crew members'.

They stopped to one of the doors near the very end of the hall and to Courtney's surprise, Geoff actually knocked on the door instead of walking right in.

She understood that before, the crew members knocked because Duncan had been in the rooms they wanted to enter. Showing respect to the captain was important. However, Geoff was second-in-command. Duncan wasn't in there so he had every right to just run in. Looked like this pirate had some class.

A muffled 'Come in' was heard from inside and Geoff gave Courtney a nod before pushing the door opened.

The room only had a two beds and a small bedside counter that held a burning oil lamp. On the floor was a bunch of sheets and a pillow.

Sitting on both of the beds was a female blonde and a female brunette that was clearly a pirate as seen from their attire and Brigette.

Instantly, Courtney found herself brightening up as the two shot at one another with open arms to embrace each other into a tight hug.

She was okay. That was all that mattered.

"Oh my god, Court! I missed you so much! I was so scared for you and oh my god!" Courtney could feel her body beginning to tremble while she held her closer, a smile making its way to Courtney's face as she did so.

This had to be the first time Courtney smiled genuinely since getting on the ship.

Her friend was okay and they were together. Everything was suddenly so much brighter.

"As sweet as this reunion is, could you-" The female brunette was cut off.

"Awe! How sweet!"

Courtney parted from Bridgette to look at the blonde girl that was sitting on the bed mirroring the other.

"And you two are?" Courtney questioned and stared at the two girls.

"Beth Smith." The brunette said.

"And I'm Lindsay Carson!" The blonde said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Courtney Oxford."

Courtney folded her arms over her chest as she stared at Bridgette evaluated her outfit.

Unable to help herself she frowned, "What are you even wearing right now?" She slowly asked with a sigh.

Bridgette paused, surprised by her tone before she glanced down at her clothes.

Sheepishly, she smiled, "Captain Hayes gave it to me…" She trailed off and Courtney squinted, "Why? And that's it? He didn't touch you inappropriately, did he?" She questioned with suspicion. If she remembered right, Duncan had told her back in the prison room that everyone he visited on the ship got the same treatment. She wouldn't put it past the raven haired captain to do something like that.

Beth snorted, Lindsay gave a giggle and Geoff released a chuckle while Bridgette's eyes grew wide as she shook her head.

"She got them because she's officially Ravenwood's newest Nurse." Geoff answered with a nod while Courtney's expression faltered in complete and total shock.

Bridgette was a part of the crew!? What!?

"What!?" She choked out in disbelief, she turned to Bridgette with her face still the same, "Bridgette, you didn't! You joined the pirates!? What the fuck!? Bridgette you can't—"

"When she was either faced with execution or the title of nurse, I think she made a smart decision." Beth intervened defensively. Her eyes watched at Courtney dangerously as though she were ready to pounce simply in the name of defending Bridgette from Courtney's criticism.

Courtney shot her a glare, "Was I speaking to you!? No, I wasn't and I don't give a damn about your thoughts either! You dragged Bridgette into this! Now there's no turning back for her and under law if she's caught by any European government, she'll be executed by them! For fuck's sake how could you get into this situation, Bridgette!?" She turned back to her desperately, hoping to hear some sort of redemption that she could withdraw her position and she could go back to being normal.

Bridgette winced and took a step back from her fuming friend while Beth simply stared up at her in annoyance.

Courtney didn't care. This was all so fucked up. Brigette seriously decided to join the pirate crew. This was some fucked up bullshit. She was a pirate now. A criminal.

She couldn't believe this.

"Hey, there's no need to be so angry, mate." Courtney tried to calm with a hand to her shoulder.

Disgusted, Courtney brushed him off and turned around to glower at the pirate, "Yes, there is! Bridgette, my friend, an innocent English citizen just went from civilian to criminal all because of you people!"

"Captain Hayes would have had Danielle kill me." Bridgette quietly stated, instantly shutting Courtney up.

Slowly, the brunette turned to face her friend who held her head down shamefully,

"Captain Hayes to be frank terrifies me, Court. When he spoke to me in my prison room, I tried so hard not to cry, but it didn't even work… He told me I was too soft to be sold off and that he'd send someone to just kill me in the room and he would have done it himself, but I wasn't worth his time…" She let out a shaky sigh, "Beth had been sent to kill me, but she took pity on me. We talked and she arranged for me to stay alive, and the only way was to join the crew. I'm not a fighter… I never have been. But I have been studying to be a nurse since I was a baby. So, the job fit."She brought her head up with a small smile, "At least I'm not killing or hurting. Just helping. You know I'm sorry that you're mad, but there was no other choice for me. I'm not really a criminal… I'm still Bridgette."

Courtney groaned with a roll to her eyes, "Yeah, you're helping a bunch of criminals so they can go off and kill more criminals. Way to do the world justice, Bridgette."

She frowned sadly and Courtney instantly felt regret for his off-hand comment.

"But I understand completely. Don't worry about Duncan either. He said you weren't worth his time. Hah. What a fucking joke considering how little he's worth." Courtney scoffed out reassuringly.

At this point, Beth, Lindsay, and Geoff's smiles disappeared.

"He's a brash cunt that needs to get off of his damn high horse. Prince of the Crimson Sea and Prince of the Seven Seas. Not real titles. Just horribly cliché and cheesy ones that uncreative bums gave him and he swears he's on top of the world. It's pathetic. He's only like, 15."

Geoff smiled awkwardly, "He's 19…"

Oh. So only a two year gap. But regardless, Harry was still really young, especially to have such an infamous rep.

"He's only 19 and he has all that credit for being some badass pirate? Are we talking about the same Duncan? Because to be frank, the Captain Hayes I heard about is nothing like the Duncan Hayes I've become acquainted with." Courtney admitted airily.

Just like earlier, her head couldn't seem to align both Duncan and Captain Hayes as the same person.

In her head, back in England when she heard small whispers and news of Captain Hayes being a ruthless murderer, she imagined a strong, experienced, cold, and deadly man that took no one's bullshit. When she met Duncan all she saw was a little brat that was given the title of captain and abusing the hell out of it.

Geoff frowned, his eyes watching at Courtney steadily, "Duncan earned his title so quickly because he is the best around. Don't let how he presents himself in front you, fool you. Trust me when I say, Duncan is the last person on this ship you want to piss off."

His words left little effect on Courtney as she began cleaning her dirtied nails uncaringly.

Beth scowled as she watched Courtney, irritation clearly seen in her eyes, "I'm surprised you're acting this way. Captain Hayes normally has no tolerance for people who act like you. He should have put you in your place by now."

Glancing up from her nails with a leer on her, Courtney prepared to give the female pirate a verbal beat down, but before she could another voice began from behind her,

"I should have put her in her place? Beth, please. Are you blind? Look at her fucking neck."

Immediately, Courtney found herself stiffening with a grunt while Bridgette moved her eyes to the ground and Geoff, Lindsay and Beth took their gazes to the open doorway where Duncan undeniably stood.

"No matter what the Princess says or does, in the long run the leash of her collar still rightfully falls into the hands of her true owner." Duncan smoothly remarked as he brushed past Geoff to paste himself against Courtney's back.

Courtney's stiff position became more alarmed the instant one of Duncan's hand came down to her lower regions.

Annoyed and a tiny bit flustered, Courtney grunted as she tried to push the raven haired captain off passively to avoid a full out scene in the small room. Yet, Duncan's hold was iron strong and it appeared that every effort to take him off only made the captain amused as evident from Duncan's soft chuckles that blew into Courtney's ear.

"Get the fuck off of me." Courtney lowly hissed, struggling to move the stubborn hand that gave a small squeeze, instantaneously causing Louis to flinch.

Catching the flinch, Duncan slyly smiled though he allowed his hand to move from the royal's vital regions, "Why would I do that when I love having your body so close to mine?"

"Go shoot yourself. I'd rather be reborn a village idiot than touch you."

"Ouch. That stings, Princess."

"Stop fucking calling me Princess! It's not clever or cute!"

"Then what should I call you? Princess of my bed?"

Courtney's face contorted into that of pure disgust and Duncan let out another laugh before turning to Geoff, a smile of entertainment still on his lips.

"Course is still set for Ireland; however I finally have my plan for dearest Princess Court set up."

Grateful that her name was demeaned nearly as much as it could have and too interested in what Duncan had to say, after taking a seat on the bed beside Bridgette, Courtney remained attentive.

Geoff nodded, "The treasure is still our main goal, correct?"

Duncan crossed his arms over his chest, "At the moment, yes. But my plans with the royal," He turned to look at Courtney plainly, "I'll have the UK monarchy practically at my feet after they realize I have their precious princess. I'll have the King begging for my mercy when he knows I have his daughter under my possession."

In disbelief, Courtney shot up to her feet, "What!? But you said you weren't going to use me for money or revenge!" Gritting her teeth, she briefly caught eyes with Bridgette before she turned back to Duncan, "Also, you lied to me about Bridgette! You told me you were going to sell her! Not kill her!"

Goeff clearly looked surprised and he cleared his throat, "Whoa, I think it's about time for me to be at that place that isn't here. Let's go ladies." He gestured them to the door before hastily walking out.

Beth and Lindsay quickly followed after him, mumbling thier respects to Duncan prior to disappearing after Geoff, Eleanor right on his heel.

"You can't possibly be that naïve." Duncan snorted, "My Princess, I am a pirate. I am not one to go around speaking nothing but the truth." He smiled, however it was a hollow smile that easily signified his lack of emotion on the topic, even so Courtney still scowled.

"That rests my case on why I have zero respect for you lot. So far, the only decent pirate on this ship that I know is Geoff and according you, since he's a pirate I shouldn't even trust him." Courtney bitterly grumbled out, her feet turned away from Duncan to move to sit on the bed in aggravation.

Duncan hummed, "Geoff may seem decent now, but like me, he knows how to be civil at the right time and place."

"How ironic considering how you openly groped me in front of those four about a minute ago."

Duncan grinned now, "Compared to fucking you over the bed that was civil."

Revolted at the thought, Courtney rolled her eyes, "Not even in your dreams."

Chuckling, Duncan waved her off, "Honestly though, if you know what's good for you, the main five you better not piss off here are me, DJ, Owen, Geoff, and Beth, because that bitch can fight like a fucking man." Duncan took a seat beside the brunette that slowly inched away.

Courtny nodded, "Never seen or met this DJ guy, Owen seems like a pretty okay bloke, Geoff is great, and Beth seems like a bit of a bitch but she's alright." Those were her intentional thoughts, though she had to say, she was curious to see DJ now.

Duncan moved closer to her in response to her evasive movements, "DJ is great. Very friendly and nice, he's one of the most trusted men on the ship."

"That's nice." Courtney distractedly replied, moving away from Duncan once more.

Duncan was going towards her once more, however this time before Courtney could try to put more space between them, Duncan had taken hold of the rope leash and gave it a twirl around his wrist, shortening the length and preventing Courtney from sitting less than 3 inches away.

She tried not to voice her inner curses as Duncan's body practically plastered onto her,

"But what do you think of me? You gave your thoughts on the others. Remember, it wouldn't be smart to get me mad."Duncan reminded, his tone was playful and Courtney was briefly met with Geoff's words from earlier.

The Duncan she saw right now wasn't the same Duncan that Geoff normally dealt with or that Bridgette had the terrible luck to face.

She was getting all of Duncan's good side for some reason.

"I don't like you."

She was being honest. Not to mention, her curiosity was getting the better of her.

Duncan cocked his head to the side slightly, "Is that your way of not getting me mad?"

"Compared to my other thoughts it is." Courtney truthfully said, her eyes glaring at the rope that was tightened and kept her so close to the salt-smelling teen.

"So I'm going to guess you don't like me because you love me."

Courtney narrowed her eyes, "Okay, first I want you to think about all the shit I've been through in the past 12 hours because of you and then repeat that sentence of yours in your head before you understand how fucking dumb that sounded."

Duncan watched her with a mischievous smile and Courtney grimaced, "Second, I am a royal and you are a peasant. By default, it doesn't work out. Sorry, but no."

Duncan smirked as he moved his face closer to the brunette's ear, "Actually, I am the Prince of the Seven Seas. I am as much royalty as you are. So it could work out~" He winked before Courtney moaned, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no."

Laughing at the younger girl's clear discomfort, Duncan released his hold on the collar and stood to his feet, finally away from Courtney's personal space bubble. "I am cutting you some slack. You're free to roam the ship as you please, but should I ever call you, you better run toward me like your life depends on it." He winked with a crooked grin that made Courtney roll her eyes.

Duncan began moving to the exit, "Your bedroom will be shared with me. So whenever you get tired, the door is always opened for you." He informed lightly.

Courtney pursed her lips, "So that's it? I'm a free, then?"

"Partially free." Duncan glanced over his shoulder with a smirk, "When I get bored, I'll be sure to make sure you remember who put that collar on you."

Courtney's mouth opened, but she couldn't find any words to reply with, so instead she pulled her eyes away from Duncan's own as the captain disappeared down the hall, and began to contemplate on how exactly she'd adjust to this new, pirate life.

* * *

**Okay, I kinda made Beth a bitch, but I really like Beth and I figured why not have Beth be a little protective of Bridgette, but yea. **


	7. Chapter 7

"Duncan's already told the crew about everything with you! So don't worry, you'll see not all of us on board are crazy, homicidal criminals! We're more like a big and happy family than anything!"

Courtney was completely in the right when she took Geoff's words with a grain of salt.

It had only been five days since she'd been plucked off of her own royal ship on her way to France for her studies and onto the ship Ravenwood, the boat of the most insane and lowly pirates around.

Everything that happened on the boat made her want to jump into the raging cold waters beneath.

Although everyone she spoke to was relatively harmless, aside from mockery, it still made Courtney want to punch them in the face as hard as she could. The toothless, scarred young men of the crew had a tendency to wolf whistle both her and Brigette's way whenever the two were walking together whether it be up on deck, in the dining hall, or under in the room halls. It was irritating and Courtney was always ready to give them a snarky look but she could never truly formulate words or physical actions due to Bridgette holding her back.

That was also how Courtney actually got to meet DJ. The brunet had popped up out of seemingly nowhere, decked one of the young men in the face and then claimed they needed to leave the ladies of the ship alone.

Bridgette found amusement and gratitude in the rescue from the fit young man who had introduced himself to both of them rather charmingly after.

Courtney did not.

As everyone else, DJ didn't look like he belonged on a pirate ship. In fact, he was attractive enough to pass as a noble, not that Courtney would have ever told him that especially given the small detail that DJ had the strange ideology that Courtney was having sex with Duncan every night.

That strange little rumor appeared to be circulating around the ship a bit too much for Courtney's liking.

At breakfast, Geoff would ask if Courtney wanted the seat with the cushion before Duncan came for it, DJ would make the most uncalled for jokes and sexual innuendoes whenever Courtney and Duncan happened to be in the same area, even Beth remained as blunt as ever, casually inquiring if Duncan was as rough as she thought he'd be in bed.

Courtney was glad to say that with the four nights that had by since she found herself onboard Raven that as far as she knew, Duncan was never once in the bed with her.

At night, she went to bed alone, she woke up in the middle of the night alone, and she woke up alone.

If Duncan didn't sleep was debatable, but Courtney never bothered to ask because to be frank she didn't really care.

It was a blessing to not have to share a bed with him.

Though it was a curse because it seemed that during the day, Duncan wanted _everything _to do with her.

Courtney was literally forced to follow her around on the ship practically all day while her collar's leash was held at the ready and Duncan went about his daily Captain duties; checking maintenance, out watching the waters, writing in his study.

She was told that she'd adjust well, and even if five days wasn't much compared to the apparent lifelong sentence she was going to be submitted into, she knew she'd never adjust.

Courtney couldn't handle a lifetime of this.

She certainly didn't plan on handling it either.

To be honest, her plan of befriending Geoff would have probably gone way smoother and faster if Duncan wasn't constantly dragging her around pointlessly. Courtney only had time to talk to the First Mate of the ship in the morning before Duncan came for his breakfast and in the evening about an hour or two after dinner when Duncan finally decided to let go of her leash.

What a wonderful lifetime she had up ahead.

"You know, I'm really beginning to wonder if 'partially free' is even suitable enough to describe myself." Courtney dryly voiced out to Duncan as she warily watched the older man continuously write at his desk. His expression was thoroughly focused as it usually was whenever Courtney was within the study with him.

In all honesty, it was a bit weird to think about how for a pirate, Duncan was even able to read and write. Most couldn't even write their names.

Duncan didn't pause his script; his eyes still remained on the paper as he spoke, "Interesting." His tone was loose and far off, almost as though he weren't even truly listening.

If Courtney didn't know any better, she'd say he wasn't. Spending so many hours with Duncan in only so many days gave Courtney a small perspective of the captain's little habits.

He was as vigilant as a lion on the prowl even when he didn't seem to be.

Scowling, Courtney folded her arms over her chest, "You can't say it isn't true. Ever since I've gotten on this damn ship, you've been taking me everywhere with you aside from the fucking toilet. I don't know about you, but that isn't freedom in the slightest."

Duncan's fingers briefly halted from their writing, and at this moment Courtney found herself staring back at the captain's blue eyes solidly while Duncan watched up at her plainly, "I think our definitions of freedom aren't equivalent."

"You _think_?" Courtney sarcastically mumbled, her eyes darting toward the door with furrowed eyebrows. "God, I feel like I'm wasting my soul with each moment I'm in here."

Now, Duncan was lifting his head up, his back leaned more comfortably on his chair while he evaluated Courtney, which certainly was different considering how he usually didn't give Courtney much mind when she spoke, and instead kept working without much else aside from conversation.

His usual black and white overcoat that he wore while out on deck was set on the back of his chair, leaving only his white undershirt, which was only buttoned up toward the bottom allowing for his chest to be out and exposed, on along with his usual dark grey pants that were as usual, tucked into his thick black boots.

Pirating wear appeared like way too much show in Courtney's opinion.

With all the detail put into the captain's coat, she wondered who the hell the pirates were trying to impress.

The fish for when they were stabbed and chucked overboard?

"I'm assuming you were more productive back in your palace in England?" Duncan arched a brow upward in what seemed to be genuine curiosity.

That was certainly a different emotion from the usual jeering that she received from him.

Shrugging, Courtney stood more erect, "I guess. I studied a majority of the time and though it may not be productive to you, education is important and better than just standing and watching someone write useless notes and journal entries."

Duncan cringed his nose, clearly not appreciative to Courtney's choice of words, not that the royal cared, "I'm aware of how important education is, thank you very much Your Highness." He rested his chin on his hand, "Though I suppose out on the ship there are more important things for you to do aside watch me write 'useless notes'."

The brunette snorted, "I can bet you that there is. Hell, I could be making friends or something." Her threw out what first came to mind carelessly.

"Making friends? I thought you hated everyone on this ship." Duncan cracked a smile of obvious mirth.

"You should really stop thinking," Courtney tsked, "You might hurt yourself. Not to mention, you keep thinking wrong. I mean, my opinion of _free _is not being cooped up with you all day long. Being free gives me the liberty to walk around and do as I please before the sun sets."

Instantly, Duncan cleared his throat, "Well, it must really be unfortunate to be you. You are the captive and I am the captor. The freedom I give you is a privilege, not a right. So I'm sorry to say, but you're stuck in here until I say others."

"You're not sorry." The Princess immediately retorted with a huff, she was getting agitated that Duncan was making this so difficult when it really didn't need to be.

"No, I'm not actually. I was just trying to be polite, you know? Save face? Tell lies to another's face with a smile on my lips?" Duncan quirked a brow with a rather serious expression pointed Courtneys way, "You should know all about that, considering how you're royalty. Tell me, Your Highness, how many faces have you lied to with a fake smile on your face just to save your own ass? Or better yet, how many people has your _father _lied to?"

Hearing the edge beginning to heat up the raven's words, Courtney found her own annoyance rising upward. Not afraid she we growled lowly, "How dare you bring my father into this! He has nothing to do with this conversation!"

Duncan's eyes narrowed, "I can bring whoever I want into whatever conversation I want. Your father actually has everything to do with this conversation because I can assure you; if it wasn't for him I would have killed you by now."

Each word came out exceptionally smooth and easy and one look into Duncan's eyes told Courtney that he wasn't lying.

Pushing back any feeling of fear from this side of the captain that she never truly seen before, Courtney grunted with clenched fists, "That's odd. Because the last I checked this conversation was about _freedom _not about my life or my father!"

"Okay, first I want you to think about all the shit your precious daddy has put on the lower United Kingdom class and then repeat that sentence of yours in your head before you understand how fucking dumb that sounded." Duncan seethed out coldly, catching Courtney instantly in surprise at how similar the sentence sounded.

Oh, irony with that sentence. Duncan's memory was really on point.

But aside from that, Courtney could honestly say she was left speechless as Duncan kept his murderous glare over her,

In truth, she couldn't reply because she didn't understand what her father had to do with her life or freedom.

Just like that, there was a rapid knock on the door and both Duncan and Courtney found their attention drifting towards it.

"Captain! Rouge ship rapidly approaching!"

Duncan was instantly at the alert as he stood to his feet, "Another pirate ship?" He calmly inquired right after his reply was met, "Yes! We should be within distance in five minutes or less!"

"We're that fucking close and they decide to tell me _now_? Idiots…" Duncan groaned out in annoyance as he reached to grab his coat from his chair.

While he began fixing over his back and speed walking toward the door, he gave Courtney a simple look, "Your freedom. That's all you fucking care about. You're as selfish as practically all the upper class on those fucking islands. You only care about yourself and the second you get a simple taste of what you've been dishing out to millions for generations, you cry about it. It's fucking pathetic. Don't even think about leaving the room. I'm sending someone in to watch you."

"What—"

_Slam._

"Is that even supposed to mean!?" Courtney shouted in frustration as the door was slammed.

Groaning into her hands she moved toward the wall before she gave her forehead a repeated tap on it.

Outside the door, she could hear the frantic stomps and exclamations from the crew as the rouge ship apparently moved in closer.

Christ, Duncan was impossibly annoying.

What the hell did her dad have to do with any of this? Being selfish?

It made no sense whatsoever.

Though it sounded similar to the case of hatred toward the Crown. It shouldn't be much of a surprise that Duncan did considering the fact he was pirate captain. Courtney didn't care.

She was still alive and she was going to be living for a while.

A while long enough to get off the ship and get back to London.

Duncan was just showing himself to be more and more of a cunt as time went on, which was expected.

"You alright there?"

Courtney halted from his head banging to turn to the now opened door.

The blond, that Courtney was able to recollect in her memories as Owen shyly smiled as he stuck his head into the room.

Over the course of the five days, this boy in particular was seemingly nowhere to be seen. Courtney couldn't really remember catching him at breakfast or dinner or anywhere whenever she was walking around with Duncan…

Though before, on her first day on the ship, her memory of the blond lad was still clear.

Courtney slowly nodded as she pulled away from the wall, a scowl on her face while Owen closed the door behind her.

"As alright as I can be when I'm being held captive." She replied with a sigh.

Owen laughed lowly, "Geoff and DJ told me you weren't adjusted yet."

"Be honest, if you were in my position wouldn't you be the same?"

Cracking a grin, he put his hands into his pockets with a shake to his head, and with such an expression on his face he looked vastly innocent. His features appeared younger than Courtney assumed they were and the royal found that sense of déjà vu coming over him once more as he squinted at the young man.

He really seemed familiar.

"Have I seen you somewhere before?" She automatically asked, easily putting Owen's smile to an end as he sheepishly glanced away with a cough into his hand, "You're a princess. I'm a pirate. I doubt you have."

Realizing how stupid she just made herself sound, Courteny gave a short awkward smile, "My mistake."

"Haha, it's okay! I'm Owen by the way!" He gave a slight bow,

Courtney watched the gesture in mild amusement, partly due to the fact that as opposed to the sloppy-jeering bows and curtsies she'd seen since her arrival onboard, Owen's bow was actually spot on. Clapping once, the brunette nodded, "Courtney Oxford."

The blond laughed, "Pleasure to meet you, Your Highness."

"I'm sure it is." Courtney scoffed causing Owen to smile broadly, "I've never got to properly meet you before you know, but I heard a lot about you! Like according to Duncan you're like a cat! All mean and stand-offish but you're actually super cute and cuddly when you go to sleep! Oh man, speaking of cats have you ever eaten a cat before? I remember a couple months ago I accidentally ate one because Trent lied and said it was chicken. It tasted kind of like chicken but when he told me the truth I freaked out, because cats aren't meant to be eaten, not like chicken. I love chicken so much. Don't you? Does Royalty even eat chicken? If you don't that must be a sad life, like whoa!"

Courtney could only stand in astonishment as her ears were bombarded with a wave of words as the loud man continued on with his words obliviously.


	8. Chapter 8

"You talk an awful lot, you know that right?" Courtney held a hand up as Owen finally came to a pause with his words,

He literally had been rambling for what seemed to be the past five minutes or so. How could a human being just stand there and talk on and on without a stop? As far as Courtney had been able to keep up, a majority of the boy's words was about food.

The man blinked his eyes in confusion as the brunette groaned with a shake to her head, "When I say, a lot, I mean _a lot_."

Owen frowned now; a sad and puppy dog-like expression dulling on his features that immediately made Courtney feel slight regret in her words.

"Oh… Sorry… I didn't really realize. Ah shit, I must be annoying you." He rubbed the back of his neck with a sullen look on his face while he glanced away shamefully in a way that made Courtney grunt after running a hand through her hair,

"You aren't," She quickly stated, not entirely sure why she was showing this boy kindness because if anything, she should be completely content with making a pirate sad, "It's just I had no idea that someone could say so much in such a short period of time is all." Courteny half-lied with a forced smile on her face.

This answer made the happiness that had been in Owen's eyes reappear like a sparked match. The blond returned the beam obliviously, "Ahaha! Well, I guess I do talk a lot! I'm sorry still! I'll try to control myself more?" He questioningly inquired mostly to himself with an arched brow.

Courtney nodded with a thumbs up sarcastically, "Sounds like a plan."

Without another word, Courtney turned away to begin walking toward the door out of the cabin, already deeming the conversation over. However, she didn't expect for Owen to speak up in surprise at her impending exit.

Unlike what she expected, Owen didn't grab her shoulder, something Courtney was completely grateful for—had she been touched, she would have snapped without a doubt— but instead fell into step beside him with furrowed eyebrows, "Wait, where are you going?"

Pausing, Courtney gave him a short look, "Outside, on deck."

Duncan was gone for once so now it'd be a perfect opportunity to leave.

Owen's eyes grew wide as he frantically shook his head, his body rushing in front of the door with his hands outstretched, "Whoa, um, no, you aren't!" The older male stated out firmly while he kept his eyes on Courtney steadily.

Slightly annoyed, Courtney stared back, "What are you doing? I'm just going to the toilet."

"You'll have to hold it because I'm listening to orders and making sure you stay within my sight until the rouge ship has passed." Owen's lips pursed a bit and Courteny groaned, "I'm not a child. I don't need to be watched."

"Well, yeah. It'd be kind of awkward if you were child that tall." He rocked his head from side to side on his shoulders, "Though I'm still not moving."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Courtney bit her bottom lip with a fold to her arms, "Okay, tell me then. What's the worst that can happen if I walk out before we pass the rouge ship, hm?"

The blond's face contorted into that of thought and the brunette watched him dully.

"Since Duncan is more than likely negotiating with the captain of the other ship into letting both the ships pass one another without conflict because you're onboard and we can't afford to lose you, if you go out there and anyone from that rouge ship sees you and recognizes you, they might attack us to get a hold of you!" Owen come up with reasonably,

Courtney arched a brow, "Really now? Oh, and here I was thinking that Duncan was the 'big and tough' Captain Hayes! So much for that if his title isn't enough to scare the other, pettier beggars away." She had to roll her eyes at the irony.

Clearly not sitting right with her words, Owen frowned, "Duncan _is _tough!"

Not impressed, Courtney sized him, "I doubt it if other people are still willing to try and attack him if they supposedly know what he's capable of."

"You're a princess… A captive princess, but still a princess so you're worth a lot to us sea dogs. Anyone would fight with their life to get their hands on you considering how much your existence would add up to in gold and silver."

Even if he had a point, Courtney still shrugged her shoulders uncaringly before turning on her heel toward Duncan's bedroom, "Fine. I guess I'll just go sit on the bed for a few…" Her eyes slyly watched from the corner as Owen pushed himself off of the exit to catch up to her obliviously,

"Harry's bedroom! I've never been in there yet! I bet he has a bunch of crazy shit in there!"

Without warning, Courtney rotated back around and made a beeline straight for the exit before Owen had any time to react properly. Her hand was at the doorknob and she was pulling it open swiftly as she ran straight out onto the boat's deck with no heed to Owen's shout that was behind her.

Triumphant that she just managed to outsmart a pirate, Courtney couldn't keep the smirk from growing on her face as she kept her jog toward the farther end of the ship that had the staircase that would lead her down to the lavatory.

But, hre pride was short-lived.

"_Courtney_?" She heard her name called in disbelief, instantly stopping her advance forward.

Courtney turned over her shoulder to view where her name had been called, and she found her eyebrows grooving downward the moment her eyes stopped on DJ as he stood at firm attention alongside Geoff, their postures similar to that of the royal guards back at London that Courtney had been accustomed to seeing whenever she was outside the palace. The two pirates were at the boat's docked area where a short bridge was extended out between Ravenwood and a second, slightly smaller ship from what Courtney was able to see.

Uncertain of what to do, Courtney nodded, her eyes taking in the sight of the second ship silently while she began to approach the two boys that seemed to be growing incredibly anxious as they made stiff and frantic hand gestures, their eyes moving in between her and the side.

Confused, Courtney narrowed her eyes, "What's both of your problems? Owen told me that Duncan would be negotiating with the other pirate captain so I'm guessing this is their ship?" She pointed her hand behind the two that were growing more and more uneasy.

Geoff groaned lowly, "Courtney, get back inside of Duncan's cabin _right now_."

"Why?"

"For fuck's sake, how did Owen even let you out!?" DJ whispered-shouted, his expression completely perplexed and frustrated, "But it doesn't matter now! Just go back inside!"

Courtney grimaced, "I just came out to use the toilet. For Christ's sake, I'm not pointing a gun at anyone." She held her hands up in defense with a look of exaggeration to the floor.

"_Please _don't choose this time of all times to be a diva. Courtney, if you value your life, I suggest you haul ass back with Owen into Duncan's cabin."

"I—"

"Do it _now_ if you value your life and _ours_." Geoff spoke through gritted teeth, "Duncan's going to kill us if they see you."

"No! No! I refuse to die!" DJ intervened, his eyes glared over at Courtney in impatience, "Go back to the God damn room, Courtney before you get—"

"IT IS PRINCESS COURTNEY!"

"TELL THE CAPTAIN AT ONCE!"

"ALERT THE CAPTAIN THAT RAVENWOOD HAS A HOLD OF PRINCESS COURTNEY!"

"Spotted… Fuck." DJ moaned into his hands.

Courtney found her eyes widening at the calls of her name as she glanced over at the second ship where dozens of pirates were at the edge of the ship watching over at her with matching looks of excitement and wonder. Their eyes were all glued on her, seemingly twitching with an emotion that brought a rather disturbed feeling into the royal's stomach.

Slowly, she took a step back and in response, it appeared as though the pirates from the other ship were moving toward the bridge that connected both of their ships together.

DJ and Geoff were both in front of her in a single instant; the two had both their pistols drawn upward and at the wooden bridge threateningly.

"Just so you cunts know, if you try stepping a one foot on the bridge, we're blowing your brains out." DJ loudly informed while waving his pistol in the air for a clear view, "God, Duncan is going to have such a bitchfit later." He mumbled out lowly,

Geoff sighed, "He will… But we're defending his girlfriend now so he shouldn't be too upset." His finger pulled the trigger on his pistol the moment he saw one of the older men on the other pirate ship begin walking toward the bridge with his own gun raised. The man was sent plummeting off the edge of the ship, straight into the open water space below.

"We will kill you if you try crossing the bridge!" Geoff declared once more when the pirate's companions all began to draw their own weapons and point them at both Geoff and DJ menacingly.

"Not to be rude or anything, but you two _do _realize that there are about ten guns pointed at us right now ready to shoot, right? Or am I the only one seeing this?" Courtney slowly questioned, her head slowly moving in between the two conversing males.

"Doesn't this feel familiar, Geoff?" DJ turned to his blond comrade with a smile, ignoring Courtney's question.

Geoff shook his head fondly, "Haha, it does. Only Beth wasn't as sarcastic. Also, Courtney," He addressed the stressing royal simply, "Yeah, we see the weapons, but we're not going to worry too much about them." He answered with a smile.

Not feeling the least bit safe, especially with the looks the pirates from the opposing side were giving her, Courtney blanched, "I think now would be a good time for me to go back to Duncan's cabin…"

DJ and Geoff turned toward one another before briefly locking eyes. They appeared to have some sort of silent communication going on before both nodded at each other and turned back to Courtney,

"Don't look back and when you get inside lock the door." Geoff said seriously,

"And _run, _run like Duncan is promising to eat you out tonight." DJ prepped, his tone serious though his words made Courtney sneer at him, "Asshole."

Geoff chuckled, "Okay, seriously though. Go, Courtney."

Taking a breath, Courtney took a single step backward, her eyes watching once more as the pirates of the other crew seemed to grow tenser at her movements. She gave DJ and Geoff one last fleeting look before she turned around on herheel and took off running back to the cabin room as quickly as her legs could carry her.

Behind her, she could hear the sound of shouts, her name, and guns firing off while she pushed herself to the door that was now upon her.

Without hesitation, she grabbed hold of the doorknob prior to moving inside of the room with a heavy pant into her lungs. After locking the door, Courtney moaned tiredly as her back slid on the doorframe at the back of her.

Owen sat at Duncan's desk and seeing Courtney enter the room once more, he perked up in amazement, "What happened!?" He rushed over to the fallen brunette,

Courtney huffed, "Oh, nothing… Just saw a huge spider in the girl's room."

The girl winced as she listened to the chaos beginning to unravel outside the room. Courtney could hear her name being called along with gunshots and the cries of agony from dying men. As unsettling as it was, she couldn't tear her mind away from the fact her life was currently on the edge of a tightrope.

"How huge was the spider?" Owen humored her dully.

"Huge enough to kill me."

"Sounds pretty huge."

"Yeah. Can we just push something in front of this door to make sure they don't get in since they may or may not have seen me run in here?" Courtney inquired as she began standing to his feet, "Also, thanks for not saying 'I told you so'."

Owen shook his head, "We can try moving Duncan's desk there. But don't worry. I won't say that unless we end up being kidnapped."

Taking brief notice of how the blond said 'we' in the sentence, Courtney couldn't help but couple it in with the fact that Owen hadn't left the room when she had gone out.

With a suspicious look on her face as she grabbed one end of Duncan's desk to move to the door, Courtney watched Owen, "What exactly do you—"

A loud _bang _echoed throughout the room as the door visibly rocked inward, immediately causing both Owen and Courtney to halt their progress of desk-moving. They watched the door silently before another _bang _was heard and the door moved once more.

This time, Courtney winced right as the exit was hit once more, this time more sharply and the wooden doorframe was sent crashing to the floor.

Cursing inwardly, Courtney took an instinctive step back as an entirely unfamiliar face entered the room, pistol raised up with an offensive finger on the trigger.

A man, perhaps in his late 20s glanced around the room securely, his eyes evaluated over the area twice before he fully set his sights on both Owen and Courtney.

Courtney instantly glanced over at Owen for some hope of seeing the pirate pull out a weapon as Geoff or DJ had earlier to defend the two of them. However, to Courtney's complete and total horror, the blond stood calmly with no gun or sword up.

Why did she have a feeling this wouldn't end well?


	9. Chapter 9

"So this is where Captain Hayes keeps his _real _treasure?" The man laughed lowly, his gun not lowering.

"No, not really. He keeps it in the treasury room but since you seem a bit daft, I could point you in the direction of it if you want. I'm sure you wouldn't be able to find it on your own." Courtney countered, and even though she knew she was facing a life-or-death situation, she really couldn't help herself. At least if she was going down, she could go down a trooper.

Before the older pirate could retort with what could be assumed to be an angry response, as evident from the scowl that came to his mouth after Courtney's reply, Owen spoke up, "I doubt we could even be considered treasures, really."

Pursing her lips a bit, Courtney curiously watched Owen while the older boy tapped his fingers on the wooden desk casually, "I think stuff like jewels and gold would be considered treasure. Those sorts of things are shiny. Shiny things tend to sell for a lot. I mean, not all shiny things are valuable obviously, but gold and diamonds are both all shimmery and it's pretty cool in a way—"

_Bang_

The gun went off with a speedy bullet to the ground and Courtney flinched as the man by the doorway sneered in Owen's direction angrily, "I don't appreciate your yapping, boy."

Owen twisted up his face in a manner that appeared more annoyed than anything and Courtney found herself questioning how the hell Owen was really chattering on and on in the face of danger. Then again, he was a pirate…But what pirate didn't carry any weapons!?

"I'm not yapping. But you know what yaps? Dogs. Not the big ones though, they either bark or just stay and sleep all day. But the little ones yap alot. They're feisty and annoying at times but I guess they're cute if they like you. Which naturally makes sense, because why would they yap if they like you? Unless that's their way of saying they love you, which still doesn't make much sense because most dogs lick you if they like you, right? I think that's how it is anyways."

Courtney watched Owen with nothing short but astonishment beneath her passive straight face.

The boy was staring the pirate right in the eyes, a small smile on his lips as he continued talking nonstop…

"Which reminds me, are you the captain of The Rose?" Owen asked simply.

Grunting now, the older male didn't lower his gun, his eyes narrowing in slits as he took a single step forward, "No, I'm not. Though I don't see how that should matter. Now, I've had enough of your foolishness. Hands behind your backs and walk forward, both of you." He stressed with his dark eyes briefly fleeting to Courtney as a reminder that she wasn't forgotten.

Frowning, the royal stood her ground, unwilling to walk forward. Luckily enough, Owen had the same line of thought as he remained in his spot.

The blond put a hand to his chin, "If you're not the captain, then I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that within the next minute, the only person who'll be alive from your ship is your captain."

"Enough!" With the gun raised toward the low ceiling, the rouge pirate leered over Owen's form angrily, "I swear I'll shoot you in the face if you say another word. Now, hands behind your backs and walk over here right now. From this moment you're not Ravenwood's. You belong to The Rose."

This time, unlike what Courtney hoped, Owen held his hands upward a peaceful way before he began dragging his feet ahead ever so slowly. Scowling, Courtney moved to fall in step beside him with his head lowered,

"Owen, what are you planning?" Courtney whispered over to her with furrowed eyes, "Are you trying to make this man kill us?"

Owen's eyes flashed over to hers quickly and her winked with a short smile before rising up his head, "So we belong to The Rose?" He stopped his steps and in response, Courtney stopped hers as well. They were about four feet away from the madman with a pistol aimed at them.

Before the man could respond, Owen lowered his hands, "I don't think so because it's impossible to belong to something that doesn't exist."

_Bang_.

A gunshot went off so unexpectedly that Courtney winced with her eyes shut. She prepared herself to hear Owen release a cry of pain after being undeniably shot, however when she both heard and felt a body collapsing to the floor with a low moan, she slowly opened one of her eyes.

The sight of the old pirate's body on the wooden floorboards, face first was the first thing her brain managed to register. In his back, a small hole was present that was edged with dark red that seemed to slowly expand on the already dirtied cloth.

Her eyes remained glued to the man on the ground that was now undeniably dead in horror.

It happened so fast.

"Haha! I think I may be psychic! I planned that so accurately! Woah, thanks for the save, Captain!"

With Owen's words, Courtney glanced upward from the dead body upward to the broken door way where Duncan stood, his hand moving to his side to put his gun away. The raven's face looked like the very essence of all that was fury in the world; however, Coirtney couldn't pay it much mind as she glanced back down at the man who was just killed in front of him.

Duncan just killed him.

"What happened to the rest of them, though? You killed them all too…?" Owen's excited tone slowly died as the blond watched the captain's dark expression flash over to him.

The frosty look that Duncan wore told Owen that he had to shut up and fast, something the man instantly did with a shameful stare to the ground.

"Alright! So they are okay! I told you Owen would be able to handle everything Duncan!" Geoff exclaimed from the doorway, his eyes bright despite the fresh blood that was coated on his face along with a single gash over his cheek.

Owen sent the raven a silent look to warn him of Duncan's mood, but before it could reach him, Duncan turned over his shoulder to give Geoff a glower, "Owen wasn't able to handle shit." His words were harsh and Geoff's mouth dropped instantly. Duncan growled with a hand through his hair, "I'm so fucking pissed off right now."

Frowning, Geoff nodded, "That's understandable… But you know DJ and I are sorry that we weren't able to stop Courtney from being seen outside… If we were, this wouldn't have happened. But everything's okay now and that's what matters, right?"

With a small and shy smile, Owen agreed, "Yeah… I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have let Courtney out of the room. On the plus side, I'm sure you guys managed to snag some stuff from The Rose's ship right? Did they at least have good food?"

"Geoff, Owen get out."

"Duncan—"

"Get out _now_."

Geoff grimaced and Owen quickly mumbled out a quick good-bye to Courtney and apology to Duncan before he stepped past Duncan and beside Geoff,

Duncan didn't turn around to face them as he spoke, his eyes leveled on Courtney who was still in a daze while she kept her black eyes on the dead pirate's body, "Get someone to fix this door by tonight."

"Alright, mate." Geoff answered while giving Duncan a concerned look that mirrored Owen's toward COurtney. The two turned around and began walking out on deck which was now beginning to be cleared of fallen, dead bodies by the lower members of the crew.

When they were out of earshot, both Geoff and Owen locked eyes with one another their steps not stopping.

Owen spoke first, "Duncan isn't going to kill Courtney, is she? I mean… I know all of this is her fault, but Duncan likes her, doesn't he?" The pirate scowled lightly. He quite liked Courtney and she seemed like a fun person even if she was kind of bitchy.

Honestly, Geoff shrugged his shoulders, "Duncan told me he's fond of Courtney. But even if he says that, you have to remember that he said he was fond me and after I pissed him off for the first time I was tied to the ship's mast for a whole day." Sighing, he reached over to wipe off a smudge from the blond's cheek, though he only succeeded in smearing more blood and dirt from his own finger onto the boy's skin.

Obliviously, Owen blinked, "So Courtney's basically fucked?"

"One way or another. Duncan seems pretty pissed."

Courtney still couldn't over the fact that she pretty much just witnessed someone died in front of her. Not only that, the person who just killed them was now dragging her into his bedroom.

"Let me go!" Courtney exclaimed as her collar was yanked mercilessly into the bedroom door. Duncan ignored her, his stride ahead was strong and each step seemed to make an extra loud noise as his boot came in contact with the ground.

Duncan pushed her onto the bed and Courtney instantly rebounded as she glared up at the raven haired, "You're such an asshole, you know that right!?"

"I'm the asshole!?" Duncan snarled as he stood at the edge of the bed, his blue eyes ablaze, "You little hypocrite. I felt bad for doing this before, but you need to be punished now."

Surprised at the male's calmer way of talking, Courtney prepared to get off of the bed, "Punished? I don't know who you think you are but—"

Duncan's hand was at her chest firmly and when Courtney opened her mouth to tell Duncan to not touch her her words were lost when Duncan's lips roughly smashed into hers.

An electric-like sensation instantly rippled down the royal's spine as Duncan's mouth continued to work at hers. Though it took a couple seconds, the moment Courtney realized what was going on, she immediately tried to push the male off of her, though it's in vain as her mouth is forcibly opened by Duncan and the taste of salt enters his maw.

Duncan pulls away for a brief moment and his blue eyes lustfully glare down into Courtney's, "I'm the Prince of the fucking Seven Seas and if you know what's good for you, you'll shut your mouth. You look prettier that way."

"You bastard—mmhm!" Duncan's lips were back, and this time Courtney felt a sharp slice of pain on her bottom lip right after Duncan's teeth offensively bit onto it amid the kiss.

Now coming to the understanding that all forms of resistance against Duncan's assault was futile, Courtney stopped her efforts right after Duncan began pushing her onto her back on the bed. The pirate captain appeared to notice this as well and it almost felt like he smiled a bit into the kiss.

Duncan pulled away after a few more seconds and stared down at Courtney, her eyes still coated with anger, but it appeared nearly dulled into annoyance, "Are you a virgin?" He hoarsely questioned, an eyebrow arched upward.

"W-what!? Why the fuck would you need to know that!? Get off of me!" Courtney coughed out as she attempted to rise up; however, Duncan was now practically on top of her, straddling her.

The captain's hand slid under Courtney's chin, forcing her to stare up into Duncan's harsh blue eyes that "If you don't answer, I'll fuck you so hard my dick will come out of your nose." His words were serious and Courtney found a bit of the color in her face washing out. **(a/n: omfg! i just- sorry?)**

In disbelief she coughed, "You aren't serious."

"I'm very serious." Duncan snapped as he began to shrug off his over coat before he started pulling down Courtney's own trousers to the brunette's mortification, "I'll be honest with you, Courtney. I like you. You're very attractive for a royal, I have to say. I thought a majority of royalty were fat and simply disgusting. You proved me otherwise. But, even with your pretty face, you talk too fucking much." He truthfully informed as only Courtney's pants remained.

When Duncan's frown nearly twitched into a smirk, Courtney growled as she tried kicking up one of her legs to prevent herself from being touched, "I don't talk too much! You're just pissed that someone's finally standing up to you!" She grunted out, "Now, if you'd please, give me back my trousers and get off of me—"

"Don't act like you don't want me to fuck you." Duncan mocked with a scowl, "Also, stop trying to stall, now if you want this to be quick and less painful on your part, I suggest you shut your mouth, take off your pants and get on your hands and knees."

Challengingly, Courtney glared up at him, "If I don't?"

Duncan leered back down at the royal, "Then I suppose I'll just put my dick in you as roughly as possible."

Not expecting that kind of response, Courtney gave a groan, "Can't you just—" Before she could even finish, Duncan was already working on tearing off her pants.

With her womenhood out in the open and Duncan's irises scanning it over, the raven haired male snorted and Courtney instantly found herself growing annoyed with how arrogant the male seemed, already knowing what that meant.

Inserting both his index and middle finger into his mouth, Duncan watched down at her as he took his now wet fingers out and lowered them down toward Courtney's womenhood. The princess winced in pain the instant she felt the two digits enter her.

Duncan being the bastard that he was wasn't the least bit gentle.

"F-fucker." Courtney managed to breathe out as she glares up at the male that doesn't seem at all apologetic.

"Ten members of my crew were killed today." Duncan informed as he roughly twiddled his fingers from within Courtney, he boredly watched down at the squirming royal, "Not only that, but at least a dozen others are wounded right now."

He removed his fingers and the relief Courtney felt was instant. Duncan now began to undo his belt buckle as he rose off of Courtney a bit,

Once more, she tried getting up, but even she knew she wouldn't have gotten far when Duncan pushed her back down into the mattress.

With his pants lowered and his hardened cock out, Courtney found slight panic entering her as she watched Duncan begin to straddle her once more.

Duncan's hand slid beneath her chin once more and Courtney was forced to watch into the pirate's eyes.

Duncan contemptuously stared at her, "Tell me, whose fucking fault is it?"

"I—Arghhh." Courtney groaned out the instant she felt Duncan enter her. Despite the short prep from before, the pain is still intense and the brunette clutches the bed sheets beneath her desperately.

He gives a single thrust and the pain rockets throughout her body, clouding her thoughts as her throws her head back and gasps helplessly.

"I asked you a question, whose fault is it?" Duncan questioned again, his hand moved downward to Courtney's hip where he began to soothingly rub, making a pleasuring sensation for the royal, though the pain still felt in her womenhood was all that he really focused on.

Courtney stared up at the ceiling blankly, "Duncan… Get out, right now." She weakly commanded, her voice nearly quivered into a moan but she was unwilling to become a complete victim. She willed herself to stay strong. Show Duncan she wasn't going to be dominated so easily. This was all so unexpected and if she had warning, she would have stopped it.

Duncan clicked his tongue, "Answer me first. Whose fault is it that I'm currently missing so many of my men?" Duncan pulled himself out before mercilessly thrusting back in, easily earning a sharp and quick gasp from Courtney.

"What does it matter!?" Courtney growled up at him, "You fucking won the battle anyways! You're still alive, unfortunately! There's no need for you to be… Urgh… Doing this!" She protested angrily.

At this point, despite the pain, Courtney can't lie that she's feeling pleasure from this, especially with the way Courtney's hands had began trailing themselves over her body. Duncan's hand is suddenly at his cock and Courtney can't help but shudder as the pirate begins to stroke his manhood.

With her eyes shut, Courtney tried to resist the dirty tactics Duncan was using to undoubtedly get him into a pathetic, begging mess, but it was hard with so many emotions and thoughts penetrating her mind.

Appearing to notice Courtney's struggle, Duncan licked his lips, a smile fighting its way to his face as he watched down at Courtney, "You're stubborn and feisty. I like that about you." At that moment, he started to rock his hips from within and all though it wasn't as painful as before, the feeling wasn't all too enjoyable.

"I may have to stop it since I don't want you liking me, you sadistic bastard." Courtney moaned out as she felt Duncan's pick up the speed.

"What did I tell you before?" Duncan grunted before he rocked himself back into the brunette that hissed in pain instantly, "You look your best when you don't talk."

With each rock and thrust, Courtney's feelings are off the wall as she finds herself moaning in pleasure from Duncan's skillful yet crude methods. Yet Courtney can't deny that it's bringing her loser and closer to a climax.

Then, all at once, Duncan stops.

Confused at the lack of rhythm occurring within her, Courtney opened her eyes to view the raven haired pirate captain as he fully pulls himself out of the antsy royal.

Unable to truly find words to say at the empty and unsatisfied feelings she held, Courtney gaped at the pirate who bent downward at the side of the bed to pick up his fallen over coat after pulling up his pants.

"What are you staring at?" Duncan dully inquired with an arched brow, "I'm done."

What?

"What?" Courtney choked out,

She was on the peak of a climax and Duncan was _done_? He couldn't just stop like that! If anything, he himself hadn't even reached his end yet! He couldn't be done!

"I'm punishing you, not giving you pleasure. Instead of letting you finish off and be content, I'm letting you stay the whole night without satisfaction. Enjoy it, love." Duncan cruelly laughed as he fitted his coat over his back with a swift wink the royal's way, "I can't wait to do this again some time. Hopefully we'll be able to go all the way if you behave yourself."

Still not fully registering the situation, Courtney grunted as she attempted to sit up, her body still weak, "You dirty little bastard!"

She just got cheated out of sex.

How does that even happen!?

Duncan released a snort, "I wonder if you'll still be calling me that after the world finds out that the Princess of the United Kingdom was just fucked into a mattress by a 'lowly' pirate."

Instantly, Courtney's anger was flushed into that of embarrassment as the true degree of the situation at hand settled into her mind.

"Shit." Courtney cursed into her hands the moment Duncan exited the room.

What the hell did she just do!?


	10. Chapter 10

Courtney didn't know when she fell asleep, but it happened so suddenly and when she woke up her comprehension of time was so incredibly disoriented that she admittedly grew slightly panicked.

Losing track of time was not an option especially considering how little resources she had to depend on while on the ship.

She tried to push her thoughts of Duncan out of mind as she slowly got up from the bed. A sharp pain in her backside was an instant reminder of what happened between her and Duncan earlier. That little encounter that shouldn't have happened.

It really shouldn't have.

And the more Courtney thought about it, the angrier with herselfs he got because at this point, she wasn't sure if she was upset for all the right reasons.

Was she angry that Duncan literally went out of his way to fuck her or was she mad that the raven haired pirate hadn't finished the job?

She willed herself to believe it was the first one, but somewhere in the back of her head she could hear a small voice telling her otherwise. Courtney dubbed the small voice as only her teenage sex drive speaking. Duncan certainly wasn't unattractive, quite the opposite actually… It was just his personality… And overall existence that was plain shit.

Courtney tried to push that thought away.

It was in the past. If she went back to England and word got out that the Princess had sex with a pirate and _enjoyed _it, things wouldn't be pretty for her.

Her walk toward the door was in a strange limp as she tried to coop with the pain that came with each step she took forward, her legs throbbing as she walked. Once she was at the door, Courtney leaned against it to be sure that Duncan wasn't in his study, and when she was positive she didn't hear anything on the other side Courtney opened the door.

As suspected, no one was within the study.

The once broken door from the pirate from earlier was fixed as good as new to Courtney's surprise,

A relapsing memory hit her as she moved her eyes to the ground where the dead body had once been. A single bloodstain was the only remainder of the now deceased pirate.

Even though Courtney knew she shouldn't feel bad, she couldn't deny the tiny piece of human compassion in her that nagged her on how quickly and ruthlessly Duncan had just shot the unsuspecting man in the back to end his life. Although, Courtney supposed she should note, killing him _did _save both her and Owen.

Courtney continued her way over to the door that ultimately would take her to the deck of the ship, and when her hand touched the knob, she weighed her options of going or staying and thinking of the outcomes.

Realizing she had nothing to lose because, what the hell she was already on a thin line of life or death, she swung the door opened and stepped out.

It was night time so apparently time clearly had went ahead much further in her 'nap' and she found herself growing distressed.

How long was she out?

Several oil lamps were set up on large wooden posts on the ship, and Courtney silently watched several of the ship's crew members walk to and from carrying several items on their being to the lower parts of the ship. Cautiously, she peaked out from the room to view where they were all coming from with the random stuff.

The Rose still docked next to Ravenwood. The same bridge that Geoff and DJ had stood at attention guarding was still up, and from that point, Courtney saw the pirates of the ship actively going on and off between the boats, carrying off valuables that ranged from paintings to provisions from The Rose and onto Ravenwood.

Knowing it was impossible for this to be going on for over a day; Courtney was able to rationalize that it was still the same day. They were just stealing from the other ship…

Her lips contorted into a scowl while she clutched her legs, the pain still fresh and bothersome.

She wondered if Bridgette had something that could possibly help dull the pain. Because God forbid she ask someone like DJ…

Courtney would _never _hear the end of it.

"Oh, hey Courtney, nice to see you're still alive and well."

Nearly jumping at the unexpected voice that seemed so close to her ear, Courtney snapped her attention over to her left where she saw DJ leaning against the wall near the opened door.

The brunette haired male wore a sly smirk on his lips, "When Duncan left the room earlier he seemed to be in such a better mood than before, we all placed bets on how he killed you, especially when you didn't come out after an hour."

Courtney resisted the urge to knock the amused smile from the pirate's face with a heavy breath, "Whatever, I don't care. Where's Bridgette?" She quickly questioned,

"I'm doing fine, thanks for asking." DJ dryly remarked with his hands in his pockets,

Rolling her eyes, Courtney made an emphasis with her hands, "Where's Bridgette? There is something I need to discuss with her right now."

Arching one of his brows quizzically, DJ watched the royal, "About what?"

"Oh my God, can't you just tell me where the hell she is instead of being so nosy?" Courtney groaned out in annoyance, instantly causing DJto hold up his hands in defense, "I am so sorry, Your Royal Highness. Forgive me for not giving into your whims in a single instant."

"That's not cute. Just answer my question."

"She's in the medic room doing her job." The pirate answer with a shake to his head, "You know, because after you recklessly came out on deck and unleashed a sudden attack from The Rose a number of the crew got wounded so as the new Nurse, she's helping out."

Courtney cringed, DJ's words getting to her a bit more bitterly than she would have liked, however she brushed it off, hoping to keep all traces of offense from her tone, "Alright, can you show me the medic room?"

"I don't think I want to." DJ coughed into his hand and when Courtney gave him a confused look, he glanced away, "Heard from one of the other crew members that Beth's in there helping Brigette out and since it was so crowded and Bridgette was getting stressed, Beth went on a rampage to get everyone out."

Sighing, Courtney looked up to the sky, "She never did work well under pressure."

DJ nodded, "Beth's like her personal body guard though. The second she thinks someone is getting Bridgette upset, the girl gets ready to _pounce_. Apparently, when Owen and I were talking to her and said something that Beth thought would hurt her, Beth went off the fucking wall."

Courtney resisted the urge to release a snicker as the darker male went on, "Naturally, I had to pick up Owen and run like hell, but the fear of that crazy woman getting her hands on me," He shuddered dramatically, "Too much to think about, mate."

Shaking her head, Courtney watched the playfully distressed pirate run a hand through his hair, "Also, I don't know how helpful this advice may be to you, but just don't ever tell Beth she can't dance. I remember when Alfred told her she couldn't dance…"

"Who's Alfred?" Courtney asked curiously, not too familiar with the name.

"Exactly."

With a snort, the royal cocked her head toward the side, "I'm not afraid of Beth or anyone on this ship for that matter. Just take me to the medic room."

Shrugging, DJ shook his head, "Your funeral, not mine."

The two shared a short and quick laugh as DJ began to lead the way down the further end of the ship. Using as much strength as she could, Courtney attempted to keep a limp out of her walk, inwardly praying that all the men passing by were too warped in stealing stuff from The Rose to notice if Courtney was walking in a strange manner.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Courtney watched over at the slightly smaller ship that was docked so incredibly close to the one she was on, "DJ, what exactly are you all doing with the other ship?" She found herself asking lowly.

Dj paused his steps, giving Courtney a short look before turning his eyes to The Rose, "Marauding it." He answered simply, "They attacked us, they lost, and so we take everything. It's typical in the pirate world. Certainly isn't the first time it's happened to us and more than likely won't be the last if these ignorant pirate captains seriously think they can take us on." He explained briefly,

"Oh… But what happened to the crew? The Captain? Were they all…?" She trailed off, unable to really say the word.

"All were killed." DJeasily responded, not taking any sensitivity to Courtney's reluctance on the topic, "Well, I don't know about the Captain. Knowing how violent Duncan was when he found out they were trying to take you, the Captain's probably still alive with his legs broken so he can't escape the ship. After we finish taking everything valuable from the boat, we sink the ship so the captain will drown. But I don't know, I didn't ask Duncan and I don't plan on it."

Courtney's head accepted this newfound piece of information wistfully.

Duncan was fucking cruel.

Not only would the captain have to live through the pain of both of his legs being broken for several hours, but it'd all end with his lungs being filled with burning salt water.

It wasn't even the man's fault! It was his crew that acted without orders after they saw Courtney out on deck. So Duncan was torturing the poor captain for nothing.

Now, Courtney found herself inwardly slapping herself.

She shouldn't care.

The pirate captain was a criminal who was getting what he deserved… But all the same, no one really deserved to die like that…

The male hummed, "That my dear, is another reason we here on Ravenwood appreciate the fact that Duncan unconditionally loves us with his stone, black heart." He cracked a smile,

"Are you even sure he has a heart?" As she said this, Courtney found her eyes growing wide as she spotted from amid the black shadows of The Rose, Duncan.

From only so far away, the raven haired male appeared incredibly serious. The burning lights from the oil lamps on the second ship left deep orange light and dark brisk shadows on the captain's face as he walked onboard past several members of his own crew.

He stopped in front of one of the men that appeared rather curious about something. Of course, being so far away, Courtney couldn't hear anything, but judging from the faces of the two pirates it was rather deep as Duncan's eyebrows furrowed downward and the way he spoke with an emotionless expression, his eyes serious, the royal found herself a bit surprised by the way the pirate was presenting himself off.

Looking at him now, Courtney could say that he saw a pirate captain. Not the annoying little shit that was constantly dragging her around, but a mature and serious man of the sea.

The conversation continued from the other man's response as he appeared slightly worried before he clearly gave a laugh. Courtney's eyes snapped back to Duncan to see the male's reaction, and the ravenette cracked a small smile prior to patting his crew member on the back and walking ahead toward the end of the ship where the bridge was.

Courtney's blackeyes trailed over the male's movements and the moment that Duncan turned his head to overlook Ravenwood, she found her heart stopping when Duncan's eyes seemingly flashed over her. The pirate captain's mouth opened with furrowed brows as he pointed over at Courtney,

Not taking any time to stay and see his reaction, Courtney snapped her attention back to DJ,

"So, since your boyfriend just spotted us, I'm guessing you want to run to the medic room now." DJ instantly replied,

Courtney had no clue if she should be embarrassed about being caught watching Duncan by DJ of all people, but she let it fall into the back of her mind while she nodded her head and offered DJ a thankful smile, "Yeah,"

Instantly, the two took off toward the direction of the door that led to the rooms down below.

Once inside, DJ expertly slid past all the crew members that were carrying several large stolen articles from The Rose.

Unable to fully keep up with the pirate's slick evasive movements, Courtney found herself crashing into just about every male on her way down the stairs and down the hall, she was barely able to see DJ racing ahead,

"Don't touch me; I'm worth more than you!" Courtney huffed out as she found herself being caught in the arms of a pirate when she swung around the hall's corner after DJ. Surprised, the pirate dropped his arms before the brunette was off after the dark male who was moving faster than Courtney thought she could go.

DJ stopped to a room near the end of the hall, and Courtney slowed her steps while panting heavily, "Next time warn me when you pickpocketer on me and run like you're avoiding the police."

"Haha, you're like Owen. He didn't know how to run like that until I taught him, but don't worry, you'll either learn from practice or osmosis."

Courtney huffed tiredly, "Speaking of Owen, I remember you guys telling me he has a nasty temper. I found it rather strange that when we were in Duncan's study cornered by a pirate from The Rose that he didn't have any weapons on him… Is that how he always is?"

The brunet haired pirate arched a brow as though urging Courtney to elaborate, but before he could respond, the door to the medic room opened.

Beth watched from the entrance with an annoyed eyebrow cocked upward while she glared at DJ, "Why are you back again, DJ?"

DJ immediately straightened himself up to return the leer, "Why can you never seem to mind your own business nowadays, Beth?"

Scowling, the female sized him, "You're in the hallway making noise and Bridgette can't concentrate. So I think it _is _my business especially when it concerns the health of one of my crew members."

"Hey, step off of him." Courtney defended hotly, walking in between the glaring pair. She glowered at Beth challengingly, "He's back because he brought me here and it isn't your God damn business if he wants to be back again. You aren't the hall monitor. We can make as much noise as we want in the hallway. And if Bridgette can't concentrate she needs to learn that it's okay to not save the lives of a couple of pirates, in fact, it's socially acceptable."

DJ slowly nodded with a stiff stare off to the side while Beth appeared surprised at the royal's on beat reply.

Courtney held up a hand, "Excuse me." She walked around the straight haired brunette that stood at the door way to enter the medic room confidently.

Once inside, she watched Bridgette offer her a coy smile as she finished wrapping a bandage around Geoff's arm.

The First Mate of the ship nodded as he watched Courtney, "Yeah, its okay to not save the lives of a couple of pirates… Because it'd be completely fine if Bridgette failed and ended up killing me."

Entering the room once more, Beth scoffed, "Don't be so dramatic. You only had two moderate injuries. Everything else was nothing you couldn't handle, which is impressive considering how you were literally up against five pirates at once."

Geoff sighed, "I know, but it'll be impressive if I can actually make it out without any 'moderate' injuries like DJ or Duncan." He acknowledged over to the brunet haired male by the doorway.

The royal within the room folded her arms over her chest, "Not to be rude or anything, but I'll need all of you to get out now while I speak to Bridgette about official business."

"Ohhh. Official business. Considering how both of you are captives on a ship, that sounds very serious." Beth laughed out lightly, earning a glare from Courtney.

Clearly surprised, Bridgette watched the brunette in confusion as Geoff stood to his feet in wonder, "Official business? That certainly sounds official."

Bridgette turned her head to look at Geoff and whispered to him, but he waved her off signaling that he was perfectly fine.

"Sounds like something Owen would say so he could sneak extra food from the chef. Hah." The straight haired female chuckled as Geoff began to usher her out with a simple respectful nod Courtney's way. With the three pirates out of the room, Courtney moved her attention back to Bridgette after she quickly went to lock the door.

She moved her ear to the door to be 100 percent sure that they were gone from the hallway, and the moment she was, she turned back to Bridgette who was beginning to organize the cabinet of bandages and ointments.

Expectantly, she turned to Courtney, "Do you have an update on the plan?" Bridgette curiously asked.

Courtney had already told her of the escape plan and she promised whenever she knew more or something changed, she'd inform her. The two were set on escaping the ship and getting back to England no matter the cost.

Shaking her head, Courtney's attention now wandered to her backside that was still throbbing, and her run from earlier did nothing to make the pain go away.

Awkwardly, she breathed out, "Do you have anything to help cope with pain?"

"Hm?" She blinked obliviously.

Courtney tried to mask her shame, "Painkillers… Do you have any?"

"Uhm, I think I might…" She turned back to the cabinet, "Why? I heard about what happened with you and the pirates… Captain Hayes… He didn't hurt you, did he?" She quietly asked.

How the hell should she answer that?

"Well, let's just say Duncan is a major pain in the ass."


	11. Chapter 11

That night, Courtney had slept within Lindsay, Beth, and Bridgette's room. At first, Beth and Courtney both had an argument over who should sleep on the floor, but after Bridgette volunteered to take herself to the floor as she and Beth normally shared the bed, Courtney hesitantly gave in to sleep on the ground along with her. Because why would Courtney let her best friend sleep on the floor? Since Lindsay felt bad about them sleeping on the floor, she suggested that they all have a sleep over on the floor, they all agreed to. The four girls sat the beds against the walls to make enough room to spread the sheets and blankets. They all talked and Courtney realized that the two female pirates are very nice, they so all became friends. **(A/N: I need to have Beth and Courtney become friends, but still, they will act like how they've been to one another. But more in a friend way? If that makes sense?)**

In the morning, she completely skipped breakfast. She remained in the girl's room and when the three females came back from eating they informed her that Duncan had asked where she was. Bridgette had been sure to get Beth to not say anything but even so, the dtraight haired pirate irritably notified Courtney that Duncan more than likely had a suspicion that Courtney was hiding out with them, and if he found out the truth he'd be incredibly pissed off.

Courtney wasn't avoiding Duncan or anything. But she preferred that the captain didn't know where she was.

Bridgette tried to keep the hot-tempered female's mood down, but even she couldn't completely pacify Beth. Courtney didn't care to be honest.

For a majority of the afternoon she and Bridgette just spent time talking about their thoughts of home. With Beth clearly not happy with having to share Bridgette with someone—or perhaps she just didn't like Courtney? She doubted it because normally Beth was only irritated with her attitude, and she always toned her attitude down when she was around Bridgette— the brunette had left.

Courtney could say she truly missed her home.

Her comfy bed, her clean clothes, her top of the line food, her mother and father… Everything.

Bridgette seemed just the same, though she admitted she was growing a bit adjusted to her new life, however the moment their chance for liberation came, she'd gladly take a grab at it… Even if it meant leaving behind Beth behind because apparently the two girls were closer than Duncan was to his ego.

When it came close to dinner time Courtney once again stayed within the room. Bridgette offered to stay back with her, but she declined because Duncan would surely know where she was at that point—not that Courtney was avoiding him—

After dinner, Bridgette came back along with DJ who somehow managed to scare the information out of her.

That made Courtney a bit nervous because if DJ could get her to speak, Duncan could get her to say everything about anything if he looked at her.

DJ found complete and total mirth in the fact Courtney was avoiding Duncan.

Courtney wasn't avoiding Duncan.

The princess resented him and the pirate told her that Duncan was still looking for her and he appeared more annoyed at this point than he did at breakfast. Once again, Courtney didn't care.

It wasn't her problem. It wasn't like she was hungry or anything.

Beth expressed her opposition on having Courtney sleep in her room because if Duncan found out she was storing her, he'd toss her off of the boat and even DJ was reluctant to appease him, but he gave in after much pleading by Bridgette and Courtney and a threat from Beth.

In DJ's room, Geoff and Owen had been there playing a drinking game and when they saw Courtney they were a bit surprised.

After Courtney explained she wasn't avoiding Duncan, Owen was casual with everything and insisted ourtney join in the game whereas Goeff was a guilt-ridden mess.

To give the royal some privacy, DJ offered to sleep with both Geoff and Owen for the night.

Making sure she locked the door just in case Duncan was doing any late-night checks, Courtney slept pretty soundlessly that night.

In the morning she skipped breakfast yet again and moved back to spend her entire day with Bridgette before night came around once more and she found herself at DJ's door. DJ seemed even more hesitant but Geoff then offered out his own room for Courtney, saying that he'll crash in DJ's or owen's room.

Courtney didn't complain. The next day, she found her cycle repeating. However, this time Owen and DJ managed to smuggle some food for her from breakfast while she was in Bridgette, Lindsay, and Beth's room. That night, she slept in Geoff's room once more and she was getting a bit content with how everything was going. No Duncan for the past 48 hours.

Not that Courtney was avoiding him.

She expected her day to go on as it usually did. She spoke to Bridgette after breakfast, but this time Beth nor Lindsay were there. When night rolled in and Beth returned talking about letting Bridgette wear one of her clothes for the gathering on deck, Courtney knew she had to go (so Lindsay offered Courtney one of her clothes). She went to Geoff's room for bed, however, she had been greeted with DJ, Geoff, and Owen all standing in front of the door.

The three heavily insisted that Courtney needed to stop avoiding Ducan because the captain was in a horribly irrational upset mood and they had a feeling that the lack-of-Courtney was the cause of Duncan's annoyance.

It was absurd in more ways than one.

First of all, Courtney was not avoiding Duncan.

Second, why would Duncan be upset because Courntey was _not _avoiding?

DJ claimed it had something to do with lack-of-sex over lack-of-Courtney. Owen agreed.

Courtney always knew the two of them were prats.

When she told them she didn't care because it wasn't her problem if Duncan was being himself more so than usual, Geoff pretty much told Owen and DJ to grab her which led to Courtney being promptly carried up from beneath the arms to up on deck.

"You can't keep avoiding Duncan forever, Court." Geoff sighed with a shake to his head as they approached the stairs upward.

Courtney kicked her legs furiously, however it did little to stop DJ and Owen who had an iron grip on her tight. "For the last time, I am _not _avoiding Duncan!" The words came out her mouth easily and for the first time ever, with the prospect of her seeing Duncan again, what she thought to be the truth for so long suddenly sounded a little like a lie.

Only a little.

"If you're not avoiding him, how come you haven't left down there for the past few days? You don't even come to breakfast or dinner!" Owen exclaimed, each step up that they took was slowly making Courtney grow more panicked inwardly and less resistant physically.

Courtney bit her tongue, "I don't think that's any of your business."

"Well, I suppose it's fair for us to be able to assume what we please then." DJ attempted to shrug his shoulders as he and Owen pushed her through the door.

The brunette tried to find her footing with a stumble, and when she was balanced she glared over her shoulder at the three sea criminals that didn't seem the least bit apologetic from their rough handling.

Turning back around her to out on deck, it was night time as expected, and Courtney was a bit surprised to see a fire burning tamely toward the center of the large, opened area of the ship. Around the fire, several of the crew members sat on crates and the floor with beer, all of them laughing and speaking nonchalantly.

She grimaced right before she heard her name called happily,

"Court!"

Her eyes rested over to the far end of the circle gathering of pirates where she saw Brigette's face smiling at her joyfully while she waved him over. Beth nodded her head with a similar expression on her face as she beckoned Geoff, Owen, and DJ toward the two of them.

A bit reluctant, Courtney prepared to turn back and make a break for it downstairs, but DJ and Geoff were at her sides, stiffly guiding her over toward both girls.

"You're really not letting me go back down, are you?" Courtney dryly asked.

"Nope." "No."

When they got around, Bridgette smiled sweetly while patting a seat to her other side for Courtney to sit. The royal sighed and complied as DJ and Owen sat together on Beth's other side. Geoff silently told Beth to scoot over, so he could sit next to Bridgette as well. The blonde gleefully pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear, "I'm happy you're finally up getting fresh air!"

With a sarcastic smile to her face she nodded, "Yeah. Nothing is fresher than dry, salt water. Freshest air around, am I right?"

Giggling, Bridgette shook her head as Courtney heaved a breath, "So what exactly is all of this?" She pointed at the fire questioningly.

"This, Your Highness," Owen called over, "Is Ravenwood's mock-campfire."

"Mock-campfire?" Courtney squinted in confusion.

Geoff nodded while leaning over to watch the princess, "Yeah, it's nothing too special or anything. We just set up a fire so the crew can get around and talk freely. It keeps us from going insane from being at sea for so long without much other contact since we're supposed to be landing at Ireland within the next couple days."

DJ shrugged his shoulders, his eyes looking across the crackling fire, "It's also a great way for most of the crew members to get some sexual tension cleared up." His head gestured over to a couple who were furiously making out on the other side of the fire. Courtney recognized the long blonde hair from Lindsay and the princess wondered who the man that Lindsay was kissing.

Courtney rolled her eyes and set her gaze upward to the sky, which was void of any stars considering the vast amount of clouds above.

She couldn't help but groan with a hand to her face, "And this is why you wanted me out here?"

"No, we actually you wanted out here so you and Duncan could bone but—Ow! Geoff!" Danielle whined after the First Mate of the ship warning gave her a shove.

Geoff gave her a warning look and Beth pouted, though she remained silent.

"Interesting how the only people onboard you ever seem to listen to are Bridge, Duncan, and Geoff." Courtney acknowledged wistfully. Beth stuck her tongue out, "It's only because Duncan is my boss, Bridge is like my sister, and Liam is like my older brother." Courtney nodded to what Beth had said about Bridgette.

"The resemblance is uncanny." DJ sardonically piped, earning a glare from both Geoff and bETH.

Bridgette laughed while picking her legs up close to her chest on the crate. She looked over at the four pirates curiously, "You know, I'm actually super interested… How long have you all known each other?"

Against the better of her, Courtney actually cocked her attention toward them, awaiting their responses.

Geoff scratched his cheek, "I've known all of them for quite a while, I knew Beth first and Owen last."

"Oh! How'd you meet them? Was it like when you were already a pirate? How did you even become a pirate? How'd you meet Duncan?"

Courtney couldn't help but chuckle slightly at Bridgette's excessive questioning, especially when it apparently put Geoff at a bit of a pause as he blinked awkwardly, his eyes moving across the three sea dogs that all shrugged their shoulders, urging him to go on however he wanted.

The First Mate of Ravenwood let out a breath, "Long story short, I was disowned by my family…" He unsurely racked his brain before shaking his head, "I kind of got myself into a little job of stealing to survive. A typical thief. I took what I could to get along… Food, money, clothes… I believe I was like, 15 when I first met Beth." He pointed at her with a smile that she nodded at.

"It was a spur of the moment thing really, I kind of helped her out of a rather… Messy situation…"

He trailed off and Beth rolled her eyes with a scoff, "I was nearly raped and Geoff saved me by kicking the guy's ass. It wasn't 'messy' it was fucking crazy." Courtney stared at Beth and then became furious and the man who would do that to her new friend. The royal silently ranted in her head.

Nodding at her crude way of saying it, Geoff glanced off into the fire, "Yeah, that was the first time we met. But I didn't exactly stay back to exchange names. But one day, let's just say my thief-ways got me mixed up with the wrong people and Duncan saved my ass from dying. Now, here I am." He held his arms out.

Bridgette gaped, "Whoa! So you almost died but Duncan saved your life!?"

"Yup. He's always been a great guy, even back then when he didn't even know me." Geoff fondly remarked, making Courtney click her tongue in disagreement, though she went ignored as Bridgette clasped her hands together excitedly, "How did it happen? Can you say? I want to know!"

"You are so mature, Bridge." Courntye mocked causing her friend to playfully swat her, "I'm sorry! I just want to know! I thought Duncan was a scary guy, but hearing how he saved Geoff's life sounds interesting!"

DJ snorted, "Duncan _is _a scary guy."

"He just isn't scary 24/7." Owen laughed, "He's amazing if you had to ask me! He's saved more than a few lives since he's been around at the oceans!"

Bridgette's eyes lit up and Courtney rolled her eyes once more.

Her action wasn't ignored as evident when Geoff tsked him lowly, "Don't be like that, Courtney. Duncan isn't that bad."

"So saving a couple lives instantly makes up for the hundreds that he took?" Courtney arched a challenging brow the blond's way.

At Geoff's defense, DJ shrugged, "Are you really one to talk when the royal family has so much more blood on their hands?"

Surprised at this, Courtney was up at attention and staring over at where the brunet haired pirate casually sat.

Courtney kept her gaze on him intently as she replied to the male's words, "I'd advise you to _not _talk about my family like you know about us, you peasant. You wouldn't understand a single thing about politics so I suggest you shut up about things you don't know."

Owen leaned his head on Beth's shoulder, his blue eyes watching Courtney innocently, "Isn't that hypocritical for you to say, Courtney?"

Courtney silently sat as Owen yawned, "I mean, technically since your family killed Duncan's, his blood is on your hands? You don't understand a single thing about Duncan but you judge him so harshly."

A moment of stillness went over the group of six while Courtney attempted to register Owen's words.

Her family killed Duncan's? Why couldn't she remember that? Who was Duncan's family? Courtney was pretty sure they weren't pirates… Or were they?

"The royal family… We didn't… We didn't kill Duncan's family." She tried to state, her eyes narrowed.

Geoff and Beth both didn't appear to want to stray into the waters of this topic and DJ put a hand to Owen's shoulders warningly, but the blond persisted.

"Don't act like you even know. The clergy, the nobility, and the royals don't know a single thing besides their wealth and the latest gossip floating from who was caught wearing the same wig twice." Owen shook his head, "Duncan wasn't born into piracy, you know. He was just a little boy from a small village in western England with a normal typical low class English family… He grew up with dreams like all little boys, I guess you can say."

"He had an older sister and mum that he loved a lot. He wanted to grow up and get a job that would somehow support them, get them to be better off than 98% of the country. Become like the nobles that always had too much to eat and too many clothes to wear. However, there was one tiny thing about Duncna that kind of hurt his chances for that…" Niall trailed off.

Courtney waited for the man to keep going, but the one continuing the tale now was Geoff surprisingly and the brunette was staring into the fire stiffly, "Duncan was a Roman Catholic. And as we all know, being a Roman Catholic in the United Kingdom,"

"Is illegal." Bridgette whispered out with down casted eyes.

Geoff nodded at her, "So being Roman Catholic in Protestant England, the day that the last Catholic Oxford ruler left the throne…Well, the Catholic's weren't treated nicely, I'm sure you know Courtney."

She knew, but it was blurry. When her uncle had died and her father ascended to the throne, Courtney had only been 8 years old. If she was right, all the Roman Catholics were stripped of a majority of their rights and treated like 3rd rate citizens. It was bad, but she can't really remember it because at the time, she had been a child with no real clue or care to what happened outside the palace walls.

But if that were the case, Duncan being Catholic wasn't exactly treated fairly.

She licked her lips with a nod, suddenly feeling a bit guilty.

Duncan had only been a young ten year old, completely bloodless and innocent and he'd been discriminated against, as if it wasn't bad enough that he was already poor.

"So what happened after that?" Bridgette asked when it appeared the story was over.

DJ now leaned forward, "If you weren't too caught up in that fancy castle of yours, you'd know that when His Majesty came to the throne, he promised equality to all religions in the UK. But, all that glitters isn't gold. The Catholic Massacre that happened kind of ended up taking Duncan's mom and sister from him when he was only 11."

The princess didn't say a word as she felt Bridgette's eyes flash over to her helplessly; instead she kept her gaze on the orange tinted wooden floorboards.

She didn't know what to say to this. She didn't even know what to feel.

"Duncan calls the period between that and his entry into the pirate world his Blank Years. He says he doesn't remember much aside from rain since he had no home and was always traveling around outside. But soon enough, he got himself a spot on the old ship Lionheart, and he went up in ranks as he grew older, and soon enough he had enough money to start his own ship and suddenly he's the Prince of the Seven Seas. He visited practically every continent, made a name for himself, and got his name passed at least _once _to all the royals in Europe." DJ finished up quickly, "In my opinion, Duncan's pretty strong to be able to go from rags to riches in less than eight years."

As Bridgette began to excitedly give her input to the tale, Courtney kept her words and thoughts within her head.

It was strange to think about...

Her family was the reason Duncan's family was dead.

Her father was the cause of Duncan's ascent into piracy.

If her father hadn't sparked the Catholic Massacre where so many innocent Roman Catholics had been killed, Duncan would still be living with his mother and sister.

If her father had kept his promise of equality for all religions, Duncan wouldn't be a pirate.

If his father had kept his promise, Courtney wouldn't be on this ship.

Suddenly, Courtney felt some pain in her stomach.

It was her family's fault that Duncan's hands were soaked in blood.

Even if Courtney loathed Duncan for keeping her captive, in the end, the true cause wasn't even Duncan. It was her family.

She found her heart clenching up at the thought of a small Duncan being so lost and confused after his only guardians were murdered and it was all the royals' fault.

Duncan's nasty attitude was completely understandable… He was stripped of the only two people he loved so early and forced to grow up fast to survive. Duncan acted the way he did to stay alive and as much as Courtney resented it, if Duncan was any other way, he would have died like his mother and sister a long time ago.

"Court, you alright?" Bridgette's hand was at her shoulder, snapping her out of his thoughts.

Courtney ran a hand through her hair with a slow nod, "Um, yeah… I guess… Just thinking about Duncan and—"

"About me? Princess, I'm flattered."

The princess winced and inwardly slapped herself as she gradually glanced over her shoulder where her eyes came upon Duncan standing, his feather hair giving a flip as the captain craned his neck to watch at Courtney more intently with a small smirk, "Really, I am. Go on."


	12. Chapter 12

Duncan keeps his eyes on Courtney steadily.

He doesn't dare look away because if he does, Courtney may disappear.

How long had it been since he last saw the royal? The amount of time was surely countable in days and yet…

It felt like an eternity to Duncan.

The first night, after he finished tying the captain of The Rose to the wheel of the ship before they sank it, Duncan remembered seeing the brunette on deck with DJ. He had actually been caught off guard because with how rough he had fucked Courtney earlier in the afternoon, the princess shouldn't have been able to walk at all. -though it was nice to know Courtney was durable for future reference. Duncan would just have to fuck her harder so she can't even think straight for the next day the next time they shag-

His biggest mistake had probably been not interfering because when he saw DJ, Geoff, and Beth appear on deck once more they all said Courtney was with Bridgette.

Duncan took it as one of Courtney's little talks with the girl. He expected Courtney to be back in his room that night.

He had been wrong.

Courtney didn't come anywhere near his quarters that night and Duncan tried to not let it get to him.

He'd just be sure that after breakfast he'd pull Courtney back into his room and remind him of a couple of things.

Courtney hadn't been at breakfast either that day. He tried to stay calm in the face of his crew, however, his irritation couldn't help but peak out at times.

When he asked of Courtney's whereabouts suddenly everyone was ignorant.

Duncan tried to keep his temper as low as possible because at least one person in that room was a fucking a liar and he swore if he found out who was keeping him from Courtney, he'd go crazy.

For that reason, he couldn't help but stare at Bridgette during the remainder of breakfast. The shy blonde was clearly flustered by his gaze and Beth tried her best to play it off.

Courtney was hiding in their room, Duncan was pretty sure. Although Beth knew better than to try and take something Duncan would kill for, Bridgette was still new and naïve.

She had not the slightest clue that Duncan would slit her throat if she kept him away from Courtney too long in this little game.

Throughout the day, Duncan pushed Courtney into the back of his mind as he worked on disposing of the remainder of prisoners from The Rose. Geoff expressed surprise in this because normally, Duncan never occupied himself with killing all the prisoners.

Geoff clearly didn't see Duncan's frustration.

When he went to dinner and he saw Courtney still wasn't there, he found a bit of dark humor in the situation.

Because she was really going to starve herself in favor of avoiding Duncan? How cute.

Once again, Duncan questioned where Courtney was, this time he was sterner with his words. He kept his eyes on Bridgette as he spoke in order to see her break down, but Beth formed a barrier between them and kept eye contact with Duncan instead, her eyes calm and understanding.

This time when he received no answer yet again, Duncan left dinner early and debated on going to Beth and Lindsay's room for Courtney himself, but he stopped himself from that because the longer Courtney kept them apart now, the more frustration Duncan would be able to turn into sexual aggression later.

Courtney wasn't even in hiding. Duncan knew she was somewhere on the ship. Just running away from him.

But it didn't matter because eventually, like all things Duncan wanted since he became the Prince of the Seven Seas, Courtney would be in his grasp sooner or later.

For everyone else's sake, they had better hope sooner.

The next day the little game continued and even if Duncan was trying to be patient, his mood was reflecting off of his actions throughout the day. He felt like a bloody child.

Owen and Lindsay at one point tried cheering him up by dancing some weird dance but it only succeeded in making Harry shoot his pistol near their feet for them to just stop.

Seeing as they were soon going to reach their port at Ireland, Geoff asked if they could have their mock-campfire that night. Unable to help himself, Duncan said it'd be allowed but he'd end up shooting everyone who sat around the fire if Courtney wasn't there.

He meant it as a joke.

But seeing as though Courtney was here now, Duncan would probably have to have a little chat with Geoff about why it's bad to lie to your captain.

Courtney scowled deeply as she watched back at Duncan, her facial features contrasted rather nicely with the orange tint of the flames ahead and the dark shadows around. Unlike usual, Duncan couldn't see the royal's cheeks flush pink like they normally did when Duncan flirted with her. Harry loved seeing the face on her.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me Princess." Courtney grumbled out before she turned back around to face to the fire.

Duncan was a bit surprised that Courtney had denied actually having him on her mind…

That was different.

"Hey, Duncan." Geoff greeted as Beth, Bridgette and Owen waved and DJnodded his way.

The fact that Bridgette had a small, shy smile on her lips and she was actually able to look him in the eye was also different.

What was this? Bridgette wasn't scared of him anymore and Courtney gave up his feisty attitude?

"Good night, everyone." Duncan smoothly said as he pushed a hand between Bridgette and Courtneyon the crate. He gave Bridgette a kind smile, "Would you mind moving over a bit?"

"O-oh! Sure! Sorry!" Bridgette softly remarked as she slid closer to Geoff.

Courtney narrowed her eyes over at Bridgette as Duncan took a seat right beside her. Before Courtney could say anything, Duncan was glancing at the rest of his crew to his left, "So what have you all been doing?"

owen grinned, "Just telling Her Highness and Bridge about Geoff and beth's back stories. We were just in the middle of telling Beth's."

Duncan nodded his head, "Did you get to the part where I saved her from being killed?"

"No, we were at the part where I was calling you self-centered." DJ rolled his eyes, instantly making Duncan laugh, "Irony."

Geoff snorted with a shake to his head, "More like hypocrisy."

"Or hungry."

Everyone turned to stare at Owen blankly while the blond shrugged his shoulders with his hands up in defense, "What? I'm hungry!"

"You're always hungry." Beth, DJ, Geoff, Duncan and Courntey all stated in perfect unison and the instant they all realized this strange occurrence, DJ, Geoff, and Beth all began to laugh madly where as Owen pouted heavily at being the source of their teasing.

Duncan turned to look at Courtney now; the royal seemed to be keeping her amusement on the perfectly conducted saying to herself, which Duncan knew was natural considering how Duncan just cut her off from everyone one else in the little group.

Duncan leaned back on his hands as Courtney appeared to realize now that she was being watched. She blinked before glaring at Duncan, "What's your problem?"

Giving her an unclear smile, Duncan replied, "It's a crime to stare?" Slowly, he began to slide his hand toward Courtney's leg. Beneath him, he felt Courtney visibly stiffen at the unexpected contact, though he said nothing about it.

Seeing this as an open invitation, the feather haired captain started to slowly stroke at the royal's thigh.

"It's not a crime, but even if it was it wouldn't matter to you since you're a criminal anyways." He could hear Courtney mumbling beneath her breath as she turned away before she more noticeably said, "No, I suppose it's not, but it's making me uncomfortable, so can you stop?"

Already knowing she meant both the staring and the leg stroking, Suncan chuckled lowly, "I don't know… Can I?" His hand trailed downward into Courtney's crotch, but before he could make a grab, Courtney's legs snapped completely shut.

Courtney gave him a cheeky smile, "There, now I think you can." She tried to squirm a bit backward from where Duncan was seated and Duncan retracted his hand.

They could make this a game if Courtney wanted to.

"So, mind informing me where you've been these past few nights?" Duncan allowed his voice to appear as charismatic as possible.

If Courtney wanted to play, they could play.

Courtney paused for a moment, her eyes watching Duncan in at first what appeared to be alarm before it quickly masked over with indifference while she gave a shrug to her shoulders. She moved her gaze to the fire, "Oh, you know… Around…" She certainly wasn't ready for that question and it made Duncan absolutely amused.

Duncan rested his elbow on his leg and put his chin onto his hand with an arched brow, "Around whom? Surely it can't be any of my crew members because when I asked them if they knew where you were, all of them said they didn't have a clue."

Now, at her left side she could tell the others were now listening intently to their conversation. Of course, at least one of them that knew of Courtney's presence from the beginning was probably shitting themselves if Courtney happened to rat them out.

Courtney was silent. Her face grimaced and she cleared her throat, "I…"

"You?" Duncan flowed along, "Now you don't have anything to say? That's certainly different." Duncan chuckled lowly before he turned to his left to look at the others who were all attentive. "Geoff, since I made that threat to you earlier, I'm absolutely positive that you had to have found the Princess somewhere. Tell me, where'd you find her?"

Geoff's eyes darted away shamefully, "I—"

"He was hiding in Miss Carson's (Bridgette) room, wasn't she?" Duncan intervened as he watched at the blond that now grew rigid beneath his gaze. Bridgette's eyes remained glued to her lap and she winced the moment Duncan's hand made contact with her shoulder. Behind his back, he was positive that he was giving Courtney a show.

Duncanleaned downward to brush a piece of Bridgette's hair to the back of her ear. The female was trembling ever so slowly, but it was still notable to the pirate captain that smiled at her plainly.

Sitting upward, Beth's eyes furrowed, "Duncan, no, technically the room's mine and—"

"Did I ask you to speak, Beth?" Duncan snapped out furiously, he glanced over at the straight haired brunette that instantly sat back down; she immediately remarked her apologies, not before sending a fleeting concerned glance at Bridgette.

Owen and DJ removed all traces of protest from their faces the moment they heard him sternly speak out against Beth. Even Geoff quietly put his head down.

Knowing he'd meet no opposition, Duncan turned his attention back to Bridgette, "Bridgette, you know that I'm an impatient man, right?" He gently spoke.

"Yes, sir." She muttered out quickly.

"You also know that these past few days I've been missing a certain someone very much and it kind of made me a bit," He tightened his hold on her shoulder, "_Upset_."

Bridgette made a small noise of pain but she nodded,

"If you ever try to hide her from me again, I swear to every possible God there is out there, I will literally make your last moment on the Earth the most painful thing ever. Do _not _keep what is mine away from me—"

Before he could finish, Harry was suddenly grabbed by his shoulder and yanked backward. He released his grip on Bridgette and turned around to glare at whoever had touched him, and the second he met with Courtney's eyes she glowered at him darkly,

"Can you just fucking stop!?" Courtney angrily growled, "I swear to you, Bridgette had nothing to do with anything! She had no idea where I was! No one did! I was in one of the prisoner rooms! Just leave everyone the fuck alone! They didn't know anything!"

In the background, Duncan heard DJ give a whistle before Geoff hushed him down.

Duncan stood watching ahead at the princess, his mind already processing the lies down pact.

Was this girl seriously trying to lie to his face like that?

How _stupid _did Courtney think he was?

This was insulting. Much too insulting for Duncan's liking.

Courtney didn't understand anything.

Without another word, Duncan's hand was at the leash of the collar and he was forcibly pulling Courtney's face toward his. Courtney gave a strangled noise from the sudden action, but before she could adjust herself, Duncan was speaking, "If you're not in my quarters in the next two minutes, everyone on this ship will be having some major issues." Duncan released her before standing to his feet.

He folded his arms over his shoulder and glared at Geoff strongly, "Put the fire out and all you drunken bastards can go to bed before you all end up falling off of the ship." Not remarking on anything else in his growing temper, Duncan turned and began to walk away.

In Duncan's wake, Courtney could honestly say she actually felt a bit of terror growing inside of her.

She remained in her stationary position, her mind replaying Duncan's fierce expression over and over…

"As scary as that was, you all can't say you didn't see it coming." DJ was the first to break the silence right after Beth brought Bridgette into an embrace as the shaken girl began to cry softly.

Owen and Geoff looked at the brunet haired male as though he was stupid and DJ held his hands up in defense, "We all helped store away the Princess, and now Duncan's mad. We all knew it'd happen from the moment we helped her out."

Geoff scowled, "That's why I never wanted to help hide Courtney away because now Duncan's upset. Why did I let you guys all drag me into this?" He sighed with a shake to his head as he stood to his feet, "So much for telling funny stories around the fire…" The First Mate began walking to the other side of the fire where the other crew members had been completely oblivious to the fall out that had just occurred.

"I'll help you out, mate." DJ called to Geoff as he rose to his feet to assist the blond in taking out the flames.

"Hey, you alright?"

Courtney was snapped out of her dazed train of thoughts as Owen was flanked at her side, the blond's expression concerned. Courtney nodded her head slowly, "Yeah… I'm just sorry for bringing you all into this because now Duncan's angry at all of you and it's just so," She ran a hand through her hair, "Annoying…"

The blond man smiled good-naturedly, "One thing about Duncan is that he's easy to get angry, but he's also easy to get… Well, un-angry." The blond gave the royal a toothy grin, "Don't worry. Just go into his room and when he's yelling at you, all you have to do is accept all the blame; just accept all of it even if you don't like it. He'll stop being so pissed off and he'll make your punishment lighter than if you resist him."

Although helpful, it wasn't exactly reassuring.

Especially thinking back at how the last two 'punishments' that Duncan gave her were sexual torture, Courtney wasn't so sure if she wanted to go anywhere near Duncan's room.

"Why is it that every time we collide, sparks fly all over the fucking place?" Courtney groaned into her hands desperately, "Why can't he and I just have a normal fucking conversation and let that be the end of it!?"

Owen chuckled, "It's because Duncan likes you a lot. Your personalities are really similar so maybe that's why when you guys talk, everything explodes?"

"We are _not _alike! I'm nothing like that boy!" Courtney hissed out defensively.

Owen shrugged his blue eyes gazing off to where DJ and Geoff were now putting out the fire, "You're both used to always getting your way so you try to out top the other. As much as I support you, I think it's best if you just let Duncan take the wheel for a while, at least until you two have a solid relationship. I'll keep saying it until you realize it… Duncan's _not _a bad guy, Courtney."

His words made Courtney pout slightly and Owen kept his smile, "Just try to think about everything from his perspective and you'll see! Go easy on him." He gave Courtney a comforting pat on the back while the royal stood up with a scowl.

"I would try to see things from his way, but I don't know if I can stick my head that far up my ass." Courtney mumbled in disdain as she began making her way toward Duncan's quarters.

When she made it to the door, Courtney contemplated on just turning and walking away, but she knew it'd only create more difficulty later. Turning the knob, Courtney gradually made her way inside.

Once again, she thought about everything from the beginning.

If her father had only kept his promise…

If he had…

Courtney wouldn't be worried about any of this because she wouldn't have met Duncan, the captain standing near the entrance of the door with crossed arms and a rather frigid expression on his face as he watched Courtney enter the study room.

"Glad to see you made it." Duncan sarcastically stated after the royal closed the door.

"I didn't have much of a choice." Courtney retorted.

Duncan shrugged, "I don't know, maybe you would have made up some story about how you got side tracked by some mermaids out in the sea or you got lost tripping down a rabbit hole on your way here." He waved off with a snort.

Defensively, Courtney took a step forward, "What I told you wasn't made up—"

"You know something?" Duncan snapped out, "I'm getting really fucking tired of your bullshit."

Not prepared for the outburst, Courtney halted her words as the feather haired captain heaved a breath. "Don't lie to me. That's all I ask of you, Courtney. Just _stop _your lies. It gets me so mad you don't even realize…" Duncan breathed out as he took off his hat to run a hand through his hair.

Courtney frowned, "How do you know what I said was a lie?"

Duncan shook his head as he released a dry laugh. He began walking toward his desk, "Does it really matter how I know? I know that telling lies run in your blood, but I'd appreciate it if you'd stop or at least when you're talking to me."

Hearing the strike at her family, Courtney was suddenly filled with a bit of nausea at the remembrance of Duncan's family's passing.

Pushing down a lump that was beginning to grow within her throat, Courtney slowly began making her way toward Duncan as he shuffled throughout the numerous papers on his desk. "I'm sorry for lying to you." Courtney honestly voiced.

Duncan's hands paused as he clearly wasn't expecting that sort of response, however he quickly shook his head with a scoff, "No, you're not. You're just sorry you got caught—"

"Duncan, I am truly sorry." Courtney pressed as her hand reached out to touch the captain's shoulder.

Duncan stiffened and Courtney moved closer to him,

"Not just for this, I'm sorry for what my dad did to you." She gave Duncan's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "I'm sorry for what he did to your mother and sister, okay? I—"

Without warning, Duncan pushed Courtney off of him aggressively. Courtney was unprepared for it and was nearly thrown off of her feet as Duncan dusted off his shoulder, anger in his eyes, "Don't you dare even fucking go there! You aren't fucking sorry and I don't want your fucking pity!"

Courtney's eyes grew wide as her eyebrows furrowed, "Duncan, I'm being serious! I know what my father did was wrong! I was ignorant to what he's done in his reign and I admit I still am, but it was wrong and I just want to say sorry, alright!? I'm not mocking you!"

Duncan's lips pulled into a slight snarl before the pirate captain was in Courtney's face, fuming, "If you were so sorry about it, then how come you haven't done anything against it!? All you fucking royals and nobles are so damn selfish and that's what I hate about you all! You don't care unless it affects you! If you weren't on this ship and I wasn't in control, you wouldn't give a single fuck about what your father has done!"

"Even if that's true, I still wouldn't be told about what happens beyond the palaces walls! And how are you going to tell me what I would and wouldn't give a fuck about!? You can't tell me who I am! Why can't you just accept my fucking apology instead of being so damn difficult!?"

"How can you expect me to accept your apology when it's so lined with bullshit!?"

"You know what!? Fuck this and fuck you! I'm done—" Before she could finish and turn away like she wanted, Duncan's lips were crashing into hers with enough force that sent intense pain to her face. Their noses hit with a great power and Courtney choked in an effort to catch her breath as Duncan's arms and hands were at her body already pulling at her shirt.

Against the better of her, Courtney kissed back just as roughly, fighting to take domination of the kiss as Duncan attempted to stop her,

Duncan pulled away briefly for a breath of air before he back at him and from the violent way he was attacking Courtney's lips, Courntey found herself being pushed backward until her back was against the wall opposite of the desk.

"One of things I remember from when I was young," Duncan gasped out as Courtney's shirt was practically shredded to the floor beneath them. "Was how I had a stupid childish crush on you."

Courtney's hands worked at taking off Duncan's over coat which was surprisingly heavier than she thought it was. When it hit the floor she attempted to take off Duncan's shirt, but before she could, Duncan's lips were at her neck and Courtney's breath hitched when she felt the feather haired raven sucking on her sensitive skin hard.

She moaned as Duncan's free hand began fumbling to find a way to Courtney's crotch.

Duncan's lips moved away from Courtney's neck, "Before the Massacre, before I lost everything, I remember wanting you." He gave a push and Courtney's back slammed against the wall in the midst of a pain filled groan that was interrupted with Duncan's movement to the other side of her neck, "I remember how much I wanted to somehow be up there with you, at the top. I had the foolish delusion that one day we could get married and I'd be royalty too." Duncan gave a dark chuckle right before he lightly traced his lips around Courtney's neck, stimulating a pleasuring sensation in Courtney's body.

Courtney struggled to look down at the raven, the new found information was getting a bit hazy on her with Dunca's body nestled on top of hers, she wasn't getting into a comfortable position.

Duncan glared up at her, "Now, I just want to take you in front of your father. Let him see me fuck you into complete and total submission. I want him to see a filthy Catholic pirate fucking his precious daughter right before his eyes." A smirk came to Duncan's face as he put his hand under Courtney's chin, "I want to do that so badly, Princess." Courtney's lips pushed against Courtney's firmly, but not nearly as rough as before and Courtney choked for a breath the moment he pulled away.

"As much as I want to do it, I probably won't if you behave yourself." Duncan sized the royal judgingly, "I like you a lot, Princess and if I didn't know any better I'd say you actually like me back." Duncan put a grin on his face as he removed his hand, "I'm a better friend than enemy. Try not to make me too angry."

"Don't think I'm suddenly your little whore!" Courtney called out to him after he bent down to pick up his over coat and fallen hat from the ground. Duncan glanced over his shoulder blankly as the younger female grunted, "I'm a better friend than enemy as well as you know. I may feel bad for what my father has done but that doesn't give you any right to talk about things like that in front me." Courtney solidly stated,

"I get where you're coming from, I really do, Duncan… But don't cross the line because if you do I won't hesitate to do something."

The Prince of the Seven Seas paused as though to evaluate the royal's words before he chuckled softly, "Princess, I swear you're prettier with your mouth shut. You have so much spunk." He picked up his clothing and began moving to the door to his room.

Behind him, Courtney followed in annoyance, "The fact you continuously call me 'Princess' and degrade me is part of the reason why I do."

Humming, Duncan set his hat to hang up on a hook at one of the walls, "So if I stop degrading you you'll try to be at least a bit civil with me?" He said it so casually, as though their little aggressive make out session hadn't just occurred.

She had a feeling Duncan was always doing that on purpose… Getting her worked up and then receive nothing.

Bastard.

"I won't _try_. I _will be civil." _ Courtney emphasized with a fold to her arms as Duncan moved to sit on his bed and take off his boots. The older male shook his head in mirth, "Interesting."

"Deal or not?"

"It can be a deal, but I can't make any promises about not calling you Princess. I think it suits you, I mean you are a Princess after all."

Courtney huffed indignantly as he took a seat at the other end of the bed with her arms still crossed over her chest, "It get's annoying being called princess, and if you're saying that I actually do act like a spoiled princess then you're wrong.."

"You're terribly blind."


	13. Chapter 13

Courtney could be completely honest when she said within her 17 years of living on Earth; she had never shared a bed with anyone before.

Not her mother, her father, or Bridgette for that matter.

She could see why now.

With her body lying on its side, she found breathing rather difficult when paired with the fact Duncan's face was less than two inches away from her own and the pirate captain's arms were constricted around her in a near suffocating manner.

Courtney had no clue when or how she ended up sleeping with Duncan in the bed beside her. All he truly could recall from last night was Duncan telling her that she had no choice but to sleep in there because he'd make sure no one else would store her away.

Courtney kind of figured as much. But she expected it to be as it always had been where she went to bed alone and woke up alone.

Not this time apparently.

She had no clue when Duncan snuck in.

Courtney stared ahead at the sleeping captain.

How could she get away without disturbing him…?

Not that Courtney's first thought was letting Duncan get a good rest; she just didn't want Duncan awake to harass her.

They promised to be civil, but Courtney wasn't comfortable with the pirate holding and touching him so closely. She still was royalty after all and a women. _Only_ her husband-to-be could touch her in anyway but not just _anyone_ could touch her after all.

Duncan's eyelids remained peacefully shut, his mouth was opened ever so slightly, and overall Duncan appeared at the most serene Courtney had ever seen him. As the royal continued watching ahead at the slumbering teen she had to admit, Duncan when he was sleeping was actually kind of cute.

Not the mysterious-attractive that Courtney had seen the night when Duncan had been on The Rose, but a more subtle and adorable kind of attractive.

Now that they were up close, Courtney could actually see the imperfections that marred Duncan's face. From afar, ever since Courtney winded up on Ravenwood it had appeared that Duncan was entirely void of any scarring or deformities.

Courtney could see the fading scars.

One over his nose that appeared to have been from a sword of some kind. On his chin and seemingly extending toward his neck, Courtney was pretty sure there had been a massive burn. Across his cheek there may have been another sword cut, and it was slightly darker than the others that were already melting into Duncan's skin permanently so it must have happened more recently.

She couldn't help but wonder how Duncan received these. What had he been fighting for? Who had actually been able to mark his face? No doubt the person who'd done so was deceased if Courtney thought about it, but it was fascinating.

Duncan was always thought to be invincible.

Those scars, even if they were hardly noticeable, they still existed and were a reminder of Duncan's humanity.

Over his forehead, Courtney could make out what she thought to be another long swished scar. Against her more rational side, she began inching her way closer to see if she seeing right.

"Are you going to back away or will I have to scream for help?"

Courtney instantly tried to pull away in surprise, but when she did she found herself unable to.

Her mouth formed an 'o' as she glanced at Duncan who still had his eyes closed; however his mouth was pulled into a slight smirk.

Embarrassed at being caught, Courteny sputtered, "W-what!? No, I wasn't—"

Duncan's eyes opened dully, and Courtney had to note how there was no trace of fatigue in his actions, signaling he had been up longer than Courtney thought.

"You weren't about to take advantage of me while you thought I was asleep?" Duncan's eyebrow arched as he released his hold on Courtney in favor of sitting upward, "Princess, if I knew you were so naughty I wouldn't have shared a bed with you."

Courtney blankly watched the pirate while she pushed the sheets off of her upper body, revealing her bare chest. Duncan rubbed the back of his neck, "Who knows what else you probably done when I was actually sleeping."

Flushing, Courtney leered at Duncan as she flung the covers off of her and jumped out of the bed, "You tosser! As if I'd ever want to do anything with you!"

Duncan craned his neck over to look at the fuming princess that was beginning to search for his shoes beneath the bed. "You weren't saying that last night." Harry winked.

Courtney groaned with a roll to his eyes, "No. No. No, a thousand times no." She held up a silencing hand and the raven haired male snickered. She then realized that she wasn't wearing a shirt and looked around to find hers, once she did she threw it on.

"Why so mean now?" The brunette on the bed scoffed out, a hand running through her hair lazily while Courtney took a seat back on the edge of the bed to put on her shoes. She felt Duncan moving toward her on the bed, and the royal had to roll her eyes, "If you think I'm being mean now prepare yourself because there's more where that came from if you keep running that ridiculous mouth of yours."

"Talking isn't the only thing I can do with my mouth if that's what you want."

The teasing tone in his voice made Courtney resist the urge to groan and roll her eyes again, because she had a feeling if she did, her eyes would get stuck that way. As she finished tying up her boots, Courtney prepared to stand, however Duncan's arms were suddenly draped over her shoulders.

Courtney stiffly glanced over at the young adult that had his head rested on top of one of his arms as he stared at Courtney plainly, "What do you say?"

Responding almost instantly, Courtney shook her head, "Tell me the answer you honestly expect." She couldn't help but give Duncan an amused look, one that was returned much to his surprise.

Duncan gave a small laugh before responding, "Well, considering the fact that no one says 'no' to me, I don't think you want me to do that."

The brunette sighed and she prepared to remove Duncan's arms from her shoulders, but before she could do so, Duncan let out a wistful breath while he pulled himself closer to Courtney's back. A bit startled by his movement, Courtney opened her mouth to say something before Duncan was ahead of her,

"Princess, I'm kind of the mood to go all the way." His hand slipped out to grab Courtney's chin and he raised his lips to near Courtney's ear as he whispered, "I promise I won't tease you like last time~" His words sang out lightly,

Not hesitating, Courtney pulled herself away from Duncan's light hold to stand up causing the captain to stumble in an effort to not fall off of the bed.

With an exasperated expression, Courtney stared down at him, "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll going to breakfast." Not saying another word, the brunette turned on her heel to approach the door. When she was about to exit, she glanced over her shoulder as she viewed Duncan now standing, his body completely void of any clothing.

Unconsciously, Courtney found her eyes leveling over the male's body,

Duncan flipped his hair, a similar judging look on his face as he overlooked Courtney, "Like what you see?"

Scowling, Courtney folded her arms over her chest with a snarky expression clouding her features, "Considering how there isn't much to see, you should really put some clothes on." She gave him a sly smirk before spinning out the door.

She tried to ignore the humor that threatened to enter her when she realized Duncan shared the same amusement as evident from the pirate captain's laugh that came the instant Courtney closed the door behind her.

When Courtney stepped out on deck, she found herself growing immensely shocked the instant she found her surroundings fogged a bit, but behind the fog, unlike the past few days or as long as her mind could remember since she'd been out at sea, she could actually see something other than water around her.

The Sun was blockaded by a mass of monochrome tinted clouds however it was clear by the mountainous regions and other ships around on the dark water that they were near land— a port to be precise.

Courtney felt a hand come to her mouth in surprise as she raced to the side of the ship.

She hadn't even noticed when the ship had stopped moving because they were already stationed at the dock, however it appeared the bridge to release everyone hadn't been lowered as of yet. On the dock bridge she saw sailors and fishermen all going about their day, completely oblivious to the fact the Princess of the United Kingdom was actually within reach.

She couldn't believe this.

She was finally by dry land. So close…

Courtney could hear the conversations of the men below, and she was immediately able to deduce their accents as Irish.

They were at a port in Ireland.

This was fantastic.

She couldn't stop the eccentric grin that began to spread its way on her lips as she watched down below.

This was beyond fantastic.

If she could just get off of the ship and to the authorities she'd be able to go back to her home and reunite with her family.

Everything she'd been wishing for was finally coming into place. Her nightmare at sea was coming to an end at last. She could hardly believe this.

Still filled with a whirl of emotions, Courtney hoisted herself upward to sit on top of the ship's edge, her eyes glancing down at the dock below. It was about a 6 or 7 meter fall downward, but if she was able to somehow survive that, she could just jump down and race off into the city.

It wasn't possible, though Courtney still leaned over the edge, her excitement pouring out of her being.

"You seem pretty excited to be at a dock of all places."

Courtney turned around to the sound of Duncan's voice, the captain was now fully clothed and his sleeved arms crossed over his chest as he approached the royal from his quarter's door to the edge of the ship.

"Not really," She tried to play off calmly, her gaze fleeting back outward, "Just excited to see dry land."

"Is that so?" Duncan remarked airily as he began to lean against the edge, Courtney could feel the male's penetrating eyes on her as she kept her own black irises overlooking the busy people at their ships.

She prayed that Duncan didn't think that Courtney was trying to escape. If he did, that'd ruin everything.

The brunette nodded with a small smile, "Yeah. It's been a while since I actually got to see it and all, so I guess I lost a bit of control." She shrugged before turning to hop off of the ledge.

Duncan continued watching hrt and Courtney attempted to laugh off the obviously growing tension, "Well, I'll just get to breakfast now."

Behind her as she walked, Duncan appeared to be right on her heel, and one thing that kept Courtney's nerves up was the fact that she could still feel Duncan's burning eyes on her.

Duncan was suspicious. Something she really didn't need if she wanted freedom.

"Told you she wasn't hiding from Duncan again." Owen was instantaneously piped the moment that Courtney and Duncan walked into the dining room.

On both his sides, Geoff and DJ shook their heads in what appeared to be irritation.

The cheery blonde gave a grin to both Duncan and Courtney as they took seats beside Geoff.

Geoff greeted them both with a slight wave and smile, "How are you two this fine morning—"

"So, Courtney does your ass hurt because I will personally go out and get you some pain remedies when we go out to the city later this afternoon." DJ intervened.

Geoff's mouth opened into an 'o'. Duncan tried to hide his smirk by drinking his beer. Owen snickered.

"No, but I'm pretty sure you'll need to get them for your ass after I kick it. Stop with the fucking jokes!" Courtney growled out with a sharp glare the brunet haired male's way.

The pirate held his hands up defensively, "You can't be made at me when you two are so obviously close at night."

The First Mate of the ship gave DJ a warning look, however, "DJ…" He muttered out seriously.

DJ paid no heed to it, "I mean, you said it yourself last night, you two are crazy together."

"You did?" Duncan arched a brow curiously, his eyes clearly showing another message as Courtney sputtered, "I didn't say that!"

"DJ, don't." Geoff scolded.

Once more, DJ didn't abide, "Uh, yeah you did. You said every time you are Duncan get together, sparks fly, don't even bother lying. I got confirmation from another trusted crew member." DJ confidently countered as Courtney felt her cheeks flush red.

With furrowed brows, she leered at DJ harder, "Not like that, you twat! I meant we didn't get along! I'd appreciate it if you didn't put words in my mouth!"

Geoff's hand shot out across Owen to give DJ a slight shove while he gave him a silencing look, "DJ Smith if you dare say something else…"

Shrugging, DJ cleared his throat, "Last one, Ge. I promise." He looked back over at Courtneywith a smirk, "But I'd bet you'd appreciate it if Duncan put his dick in your mouth. GEOFF, I SWEAR THAT WAS IT!" He declared with his hands upward in surrender.

The blond scowled and gave Courtney an apologetic look, though it did little to calm her as she scoffed at DJ,

"You're an idiot if you honestly think that your little jokes are funny." Courtney sneered to him hotly.

"They aren't jokes if they're true." DJ stated loosely as he leaned back in his seat.

Geoff groaned, "Alright, DJ. Even if it's fun to tease Courtney, we both know Duncan and Courtney's relationship is only a rumor and we need to respect the fact that they aren't engaging in any sexual activities, especially since we have no evidence."

Smiling supportively, Courtney patted Geoff on the back, "Thanks, Geoff. Nice to know some sensible people exist on the ship—"

The man at the table squinted, "Wait, what?" The four turned to him as he watched at Geoff in confusion, "But Geoff, we do have evidence… We heard them having sex last night, didn't we? When we were listening through the door—ARGH!"

Geoff and DJ gave a hard pat to Owen's back, easily causing the blond to double over the table with a hack, the two shared anxious looks on their faces as they endured both Courtney's horrified glare and Duncan's cold leer,

"_Owen James Potter_, I think you're still a bit asleep. You're talking nonsense." He smiled reassuringly at Duncan and Courtneu, "He's talking nonsense."

He watched Duncan with a grin to play it off, "We _weren't _eavesdropping and you know, if we were, we'd all be really, really, really, sorry, mate. Because eavesdropping on you in your private moments is bad and not something you'd want your most trusted men on the ship to do and—"

"Owen Potter… _Potter _as in the Leinster _Potters_?" Courtney's steady voice interrupted him skeptically.

Geoff halted his words to look at Courtney; the royal's eyes were glued ahead past him and to Owen who meekly sat in his seat, remorse in his irises as he returned Courtney's intent stare with a small nod.

The Leinster Potters on the island of Ireland.

The top nobility of Ireland.

It all made sense now.

That's why Owen seemed so familiar to her. He was a noble of the United Kingdom.

This was crazy.

"You're… You're really a Potter?" Courtney choked out in disbelief.

Owen gave her a shy smile, "Yeah…"

Geoff held his head in his hands and DJ groaned loudly, "Fuck."

"What are you doing here!? Why didn't you tell me!? Owen, you're a noble!" Courtney was instantly shouting out the first things that crossed her mind. Owen was trying to shrink in his chair and both Geoff and DJ appeared to be cursing at everything about making a stupid mistake, but Courtney paid them no mind.

Owen was of nobility and he was on a pirate ship. Why!?

"It's a bit of a long story…" Owen tried to laugh weakly.

"This is mad! Owen, what happened!? Tell me!"

"I'll tell you." Duncan offered when it became apparent that the three pirates to Courtney's right weren't about to voice up.

Courtney turned to her left to face Duncan as the pirate captain shrugged his shoulders, "I'll shorten it or give you all the details, that's to say, if Owen gives me permission to say his story." Duncan's blue eyes went past Courtney and Geoff to watch the blond that nodded small.

The royal expectantly watched Duncan as he leaned back in his seat,

"Yes, Owen is from the Potter house, the house of nobility known to control the major city of Dublin in Ireland. He met both Geoff and DJ after he snuck out from one of his parents' parties; apparently, he did that a lot because his parents always had parties." Duncan shrugged, "But Ravenwood was docked at Dublin and Geoff and DJ had gone off their own way when they met up with Owen. Interest at first sight? Best friends at first sight? Long lost brothers? Whatever floats their boat, but the moment that DJ and Geoff saw Owen, and he saw them, and suddenly the three were attached by their hips."

"After that night, when Geoff and DJ returned to the boat, they begged me allow Owen on the ship, which I found especially strange at first. Kidnapping Owen probably would have been beneficial in terms of money, but considering how much of a disadvantaged we'd be at if DJ _and _Geoff tried to snatch him, I'd probably lose two of my best men over something so trivial. Against my orders, DJ still went back into the city and grabbed out Owen who for some odd reason wasn't very defiant."

Courtney turned to look at Owen in shock, and the blond scratched his cheek sheepishly, "I thought piracy was cool." Owen added in lowly.

Duncan chuckled humorlessly, "Owen was an oddity. He thought the pirate life would have been better for him than the noble lifestyle. He felt he didn't belong in the higher class of society. At first, I thought DJ and Geoff wanted him as a pet or some sort, but then Owen started telling me about his anti-royalists views and I suddenly found myself approving 100 percent with him." He sent Owen a smile that was returned, "One of the best decisions I could have ever made was accepting Owen on this ship. He's my inside man. He knows how the upper class think because he was one of them but at the same time, he's known what it's felt to be oppressed… Especially as a Roman Catholic."

Ireland was composed of Roman Catholics as opposed to Anglicans.

Owen was of Irish nobility.

Now all of sudden this was all clicking.

"O-oh." Was all Courtney could verbally respond with.

"Of course, with the Potter's son gone, Ireland was in a fuss for quite a while, but it died down. They all figured Owen to be dead, though rumors still circulate that he's on a pirate's ship as a slave." Duncan snorted, "Silly rumors. It's been about six months and I still can't believe it's still going around."

DJ gave a huge breath, his eyes shamefully staring down at his empty plate. Geoff rubbed his temple tiredly and Duncan scoffed, "Don't act so ashamed, you two! Just say sorry and give him food, the guilty will pass."

Owen smile with a shake to his head, "Very reassuring of you, Duncan."

"Anyways, Dublin is calling and if you'll excuse me we all still need to get a move on so I can get my information." He gave Geoff a promising gaze, "We need to get a move on, lads. Get the bridge down and inform the men that we meet back here before the sun sets."

Still somewhat flustered, Geoff's eyes didn't meet with Courtney's as he nodded, "Of course, Captain." He quickly rose to his feet and exited.

"DJ, Owen, come along. I need help with preparing these shafts below." Duncan beckoned to the two awkwardly sitting pirates.

The two were instantly at attention before they got up and followed after the feather haired captain who swaggered out without another regard to the still seated royal.

Owen paused right before he fully exited the room. He turned to face Courtney with a small smile, "It wasn't personal, Your Highness…"

"It all makes sense now, though. But why didn't you just say before—"

"You wouldn't have understood. You probably still don't understand. But its okay," He gave Courtney a grin, "You're on the road to understanding… Just give it time and you'll see why."

As the door closed, Courtney released one heavy and tired sigh.

* * *

**A/N: Soo...I can see Owen being Irish for some reason, and I haven't made that clear in the other chapters before this, but yea, don't be mad at me? Love ya guys. xx**


	14. Chapter 14

"Court!" Bridgette chirped out with an excited wave Courtney's way the moment she entered the ship's deck.

The steps to exit the boat to the docks were now being lowered as far as Courtney could see. Her black eyes couldn't help but stray outward to the mountainous land beyond the docks and water as she returned Bridgette's wave.

Members of the crew appeared just as anxious to leave the ship as Courtney; however this didn't seem to stop the smirks the young men threw her way when they walked past the royal in favor of the bridge.

Giving Bridgette a customary hug, Courtney pulled away to watch her absolutely joyful face.

During their time at sea, Courtney was pretty sure this was her first time seeing her look so happy.

She couldn't blame her.

"So, this is it, huh?" Courtney breathed out thoughtfully, her eyes glancing all about where the members of Ravenwood were now beginning to board off of the ship. Bridgette pushed back some of her hair that was beginning to cast over her eyes, "Yeah. I guess by tomorrow we should be back to normal." The blonde smiled fondly.

Courtney chuckled while folding her arms over her chest, "If this all goes well everything will go back to how it was."

"What's the plan for when we get off of the ship?" Bridgette asked lowly as Courtney beckoned her to follow her to the edge of the ship to overlook the exiting pirates that were all walking along the dock chattering. She leaned over the side and propped her face on her hand when she laid her elbow on the ledge,

"I have a feeling that Duncan has a gist of what I want to do, so without a doubt he'll be keeping a close eye on me." She scowled lightly, "But we just need to stick together when we go off even if Duncan's there. At one point when I feel his guard is down, I'll say something like 'Bridgette your hair looks terrible, go fix it.' And then you can go off like you're going to find a toilet but in actuality you'll go and find the police and direct them to Duncan and I. When they see me, everything should work out." She informed her with a nod.

Bridgette blinked her eyes before taking the tips of her hair into her fingers with a frown, "Is my hair really that bad?"

Glancing away, Louis cleared his throat, "Anyways, I feel as though we've been on this boat way longer than necessary."

The blonde tilted her head, "It's weird to think that it's been over a week since we've been here."

"Brilliant." Courtney sarcastically shook her head, "Well, not another day will go by with us on it so that's good enough for me at this point." She flipped her hair and watched downward at the men leaving the harbor.

They were luckier than they realized.

Smiling wistfully, Bridgette chuckled, "This will be my first time in Ireland." She truthfully stated making Courtney sigh, "Same."

"Courtney,"

Surprised at hearing her name called, Courtney squinted as her turned around to view whoever said her name.

DJ watched at her rather indifferently, his expression contrasting greatly with the normal vigor amusement he wore when he regarded Courtney. He looked completely serious and Courtney found herself cocking her head to the side a bit, "Yes?" She politely responded, turning her body around along with Bridgette to face the male properly.

Bridgette smiled obliviously, "Good morning, DJ. Beth was actually looking for you earlier—"

"Yeah, I know. I spoke to her already." DJ curtly interrupted, his tone was a bit harsher than both Courtney and Bridgette expected.

The blonde blinked and meekly tilted her head downward, "Oh. Okay." She softly remarked and like a mother lion ready to protect its young, Courtney was glaring at DJ, "I'd say I'm sorry to be blunt, but I'm not; what the hell is your problem? You were literally fine ten minutes ago."

"I actually saw Beth on my way up here, Bridge." DJ stated to the blushing female who nodded, "I didn't mean to sound rude about it. My apologies."

Bridgette tried to smile back at him to reassure him it was alright, but DJ didn't return it and for that reason Courtney found her arms crossing over her chest with an arch brow.

Rude.

The tension in the air was clearly building however; before it could grow any further, Geoff and Owen were bounding near them from the anterior region on the ship. Geoff appeared entirely confused at seeing the three up on deck.

"What's going? Why are you up here Courtney?" His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Courtney turned toward him confidently, "I'm up here because Bridgette and I were waiting to ask you if we could go down into the city. You know, to actually touch dry land in days."

Owen's facial expression turned into that of a puzzled puppy and Geoff watched at Courtney as though she were mentally challenged, something the royal took silent offense to.

"You want to go to the city?" Geoff asked in bewilderment, no sooner had he did was DJ approaching him. The brown haired pirate put his arm around the First Mate's shoulder before leaning in to whisper something in his ear. Geoff took in whatever information with a considerate nod before he watched at the retreating pirate in understanding,

Courtney glanced at both Bridgette and Owen and the two clearly had no idea what was going on either so Courtney felt a bit more comfortable that she wasn't completely out of the loop.

Geoff scowled while regarding Courtney, "I'm sorry, Court but you can't go."

Instantly, Courtney stood taller with disbelief lining her face, "_What_!? But why not!?"

Her outburst caused Bridgette to sigh and Owen to anxiously bite his lip, "If it makes you feel any better, I can't go either." Owen offered out with a slightly raised hand.

Courtney shook her head as she stared at Geoff, "Geoff, I don't understand. Why…?"

"Do you honestly think we're stupid?" DJ now asked, his tone of voice was clearly annoyed and Courtney found her eyes cutting up at him just as fiercely. Geoff warningly put a hand out to push DJ backward and Owen appeared even more confused than before.

"Excuse me?" The royal's stance became defensive as she watched at the dark male saucily,

DJ's hand aggressively pushed away Geoff's and the pirate walked upon Courtney firmly. In the background, Courtney could hear Geoff and Owen saying cautious warnings to DJ, however Courtney stood unafraid as DJ got into her face.

Both glared into one another's eyes before DJ hissed out lowly, "You know, before I tried playing off your attitude with jokes, but honestly, it gets a bit irritating, Courtney. We are pirates, we are _not _idiots, and I _refuse _to let you just crush my best mate's heart with your selfish little escape plan."

All at once, Courtney's mouth opened out in surprise and her eyes grew wide in panic.

How could DJ have heard that? Thinking back quickly in the heat of this situation, Courtney came to the conclusion that DJ heard both her and Bridgette talking just a few moments ago. They were probably speaking too loudly and he was walking by.

The pirate scowled, his brown eyes seemingly darkening, "Duncan's feelings clearly stop him from putting you in your proper place but if you decide to hurt him, _no one _will stop me from getting you. Watch what you do, Courtney."

Owen's hand was at DJ's shoulder and he pulled back the dark male with a frown, "DJ, come on. Duncan wouldn't appreciate it if he saw you trying to push up on his women."

His attempt at joking gained not a single smile while DJ continued leering into Courtney's own black eyes.

"You know, Bridgette, I actually think you can come off the ship. But your clothes are filthy," Geoff informed the female who glanced down at her old dress, "Go ask Beth for a cleaner outfit. DJ, you and I can just go and have a quick talk." Geoff's arms constricted around DJ's own before he began pulling him away. Geoff glanced over his shoulder with a weak smile at Courtney, "You and Owen can go in Duncan's study for the time being."

As he turned back around to guide DJ away, Bridgette pouted, "It's a shame… I wanted to go into the city looking as womanly as possible."

Owen chuckled, "All of Beth's stuff is about as far from womanly as you can get."

"They're men's clothes is why!" Bridgette sighed, "Last time I wore her stuff I think the shirt area was way too loose…" She hung her head sullenly while she pulled at the front of her dress. The blonde then glanced at Courtney sadly, "Oh, I'm also sorry that you can't go into the city, Court… Is the plan still on or?" Bridgette cringed expectantly.

Courtney sighed with a shake to her head, "I won't be there so forget it. I'll think of something else. Just stay alert when you're out there, okay?"

After Bridgette nodded and said her good-bye, Owen turned to the royal while the two began walking to Duncan's study.

The blond appeared entirely curious, "Plan? What plan?"

"It was nothing." Courtney's hand took a hold of the doorknob and she glanced out over the ship to the harbor, a jabbing pain in her stomach as realization began to dawn upon her.

DJ no doubt told Geoff about what he heard, and they would obviously tell Duncan. With Duncan's suspicions confirmed, Courtney had zero chance of getting back home ever again because she'd never be let off of the ship. There was still Bridgette for this moment, but she already told her it was called off until further notice.

So now…

She was stuck on Ravenwood.

Forever.

She tried to fight the twitch and intensifying agony erupting within her chest.

One stupid mistake cost her chance at freedom. She would never get off of the ship now. She was never going to make it back home to see her family. This was going to be her life until the day she died.

She was going to be Duncan's little plaything until her heart stopped.

"Courtney, if you want to get inside, I think you need to turn the doorknob." Owen informed, breaking Courtney out of her train of thoughts.

The royal shook her head, attempting to expel her mind of those depressing conclusions, "Oh, sorry." She muttered before turning the knob and entering the study with Owen behind her.

Owen laughed, "Last time you tried running away before I could look inside Duncan's bedroom." The Irishman ran to the door on the other side of the room excitedly. His hands felt up the wooden door with a cheeky grin, "Now is the time I see Captain Dunny's true living space."

Courtney raised a brow as she watched the peculiar blond glance around the room suspiciously as though Duncan had set up some kind of trap to stop invaders from entering.

"Captain Dunny?" Courtney repeated out in a scoff, but she was ignored as Owen apparently deemed the door safe enough to enter.

"I'm going in. Have my back, Your Highness." Owen commanded playfully with a wink before he swung open the entrance and dove in.

Rolling her eyes, Courtney walked in behind him.

"I've slept in here too many times. There's nothing special in here accept for the fact the porthole is too small for me to jump out of." Courtney gestured to the single window at the side of the room while moving to take a seat on the bed where she watched Owen circling the middle of the room with his arms outstretched.

Owen pouted, "Well, shit! I thought he'd have something mysterious in here or something! This is boring!" He huffed before taking a seat beside Courtney.

The brunette watched at the fuming Irishman with a shake of his head, "You know. You don't act much like a pirate… Or a noble." Courtney honestly remarked, causing Owen to sigh heavily,

"I've never acted much like a noble so it's fair for you to say that I guess."

Courtney watched at him curiously, "Do you not like talking about it or something?"

The Irish blonde shrugged his shoulders as he glanced away, "I'm not uncomfortable talking about it, I guess. But I keep it short because going into details isn't necessary, I guess… I just… The noble lifestyle didn't fit me."

Nodding, Courtney leaned her head downward, "I don't really understand. Also, Duncan said you were anti-royalist?" She grimaced, "Are you really?"

Owen laughed as a way to ease the growing awkwardness in the room, "Well, I don't mean to offend you, Your Highness, but your father is a terrible ruler."

"Nothing I haven't heard before since getting on the ship." Courtney crossed her legs and ran a hand through her hair, "I know his religion policies are—"

"Not just his religion policies." Owen interrupted, "His policies in general… They're terrible."

Speechlessly, Courtney watched Owen tap his legs before speaking up once more, "Ireland is a Roman Catholic island and we're treated as inferior not only because Great Britain is Protestant, but because the nobles over there just think they're better than us period. Our people starve and are stripped of their land in favor of the English and Scottish settlers, especially up in the north. We aren't regarded as full citizens, hardly even humans."

"Not the nobles of course." Owen chuckled humorlessly, "The nobles live on life as though thousands in the country aren't without a home or on the brink of starvation. I hated that. I hated knowing that while I was overly stuffed with things I didn't even want, people were out on the streets a few kilometers away. It made me sick that my parents didn't care either even when I voiced my opinion on it. Out of sight, out of mind seems to be the main focus for people with too much money and power, I guess." He shrugged, "I'm not into that. I never have been."

So Owen just didn't believe in keeping to himself.

He would truly be an oddity in the higher class of society if that was the case.

Courtney couldn't recall ever meeting a noble who actually cared about the poor people. It wasn't you, so why should you care?

But when she thought about it, and her mind moved back to Duncan's origins, she found herself realizing exactly how selfish that sounded. Selfish actions could do a lot… Perhaps a bit too much.

Courntey grimaced and the blond swung her leg outward leisurely, "When I think about it… I'm really a coward for running away from my home. I couldn't even tell my parents goodbye properly or anything. The guards of the house saw me getting carried away by DJ, so they'll be forced to live with the idea I was kidnapped. I know it hurts them, but…" He pursed his lips, "I won't go back. I can't go back. I love this ship and the people on it too much to go back to living in those closed walls."

Hearing that, Courtney perked up, "To be honest, I actually am amazed at how cooperative you are on the ship. You love it that much? Just because it's an escape from how you lived before?"

"I guess you can say I love it a lot because I'm not only finally living how I want, without people telling me how to act and being able to help people when I can, not in Leinster of course, but everywhere else we dock at I can get off the ship and spare some of gold and steal an apple or two for those in need." Owen smiled happily,

"I still can't fully understand you." Courtney truthfully breathed out, "If I had the same freedom opportunities as you I wouldn't be here…"

"Which is why I never told you I was a noble when we first met." Owen beamed, "You understand me partially, but watch, soon you'll get me completely. But until then, what else do you wanna talk about?"

His childish way of moving on to another topic made Courtney smile, the Irishman was so energetic and adorable, "Nothing really. But is the reason you don't have a weapon because you're still new to being a pirate?"

"What? Oh, no!" He laughed with a wave of his hand, "I have a weapon! I'm not too new to being a pirate. I've been one for almost six months now. DJ helps me when he's teaching me useful tricks and what not considering how experienced he is and how Duncan just likes watching me fall on my face when I practice."

"Duncan _would _be an asshole like that. But that's pretty nice of DJ. Why doesn't Geoff help you out?"

Owen sighed, "He gets all apologetic whenever he hurts me even though it's called practice for a reason. DJ is a pretty good teacher even if he roughs me up a bit too much."

That sounded pretty keen to Geoff's personality. But DJ…

Courtney knew he was strong, it had been brought up a few times by Geoff and Owen, even Duncan and Beth. For the most part, he'd always been joking around and affectionate especially toward Owen and Geoff. But earlier, when he suddenly lashed out for Duncan's sake, Courtney was surprised.

She wondered why he was so defensive about Duncan's feelings…

But now that Courtney thought about it… She heard practically everyone's back story… Except for DJ's.

"What's the deal between Duncan and DJ? What's DJ's story?" Courtney asked vaguely making Owen blink, "DJ's back story? Eh, you'll have trouble finding that out." The blond shook his head and when Courntey squinted in confusion, the Irishman frowned,

"DJ is a pretty secretive guy. He hasn't told anyone on the ship about his origins except for Duncan. I think it's pretty dark if they aren't willing to say, but DJ says it's nothing big and he just prefers to keep it personal. Duncan definitely isn't telling anyone any time soon, so DJ's kind of a mystery."

A mystery? "A mystery… That's really strange."

Owen shrugged, "One day if he's ready, I'm sure he'll tell us where he's from and what happened."

"Wow, that's—"

Courtney's words were lost into the sudden loud _bang _that echoed in the room the moment the bedroom door was slammed opened.

Surprised, both Courtney and Owen jumped as their attention averted to the entrance where Duncan was located.

The pirate captain stalked into the room faster than Courtney had even anticipated right toward her as Owen's greetings were thrown out excitedly to the feather haired male that reached to grab at Courtney's wrists aggressively.

Not prepared for the assault, Courtney released a shout of protest as she found her arms being held overhead right before Duncan pushed her back down onto the mattress.

"Uhm, Duncan…?" Owen's voice uncertainly regarded the raven that was currently staring down at Courtney intently, his eyes brimming with an emotion that made Courtney know that she was quite literally, fucked.

"Get out, Owen." Duncan firmly stated and in less than five seconds Owen was racing out the door.

With Owen out the room, Courtney glared up at Duncan impatiently, "What do you want?"

It was an empty question and they both knew it.

Duncan left only one hand to hold back Courtney's wrist and instead used his other hand to begin pulling down Courtney's trousers and pants ever so slightly to the point where they were just beneath her butt cheeks.

Duncan released a quick and heated breath, "A quick round is all." The raven began slipping down his trousers as he brought his clearly hardened cock out.

Courtney uncomfortably shifted in the mattress, "I don't think you can really—"

Her words were cut off with Duncan's lips belligerently smacking onto her. The kiss was as rough as Duncan always tended to be, but at this point, Courtney could say even as her head was being pounded into the mattress that she was growing a bit too used to Duncan's little attacks.

Just as Duncan pulled his mouth away, Courtney prepared to sit up, but the sharp pain of Duncan's penis into her made her release a rather pain filled groan.

Duncan's lips met with hers passionately once more as a way to silence her and Courtney knew at this point, resistance was futile.

If Duncan wanted a quick round, she supposed letting him get off as fast as possible was the best way to get him away.

Courtney couldn't get her hands free from Duncan's hold above her head, but she tried to return the kiss as powerfully as she could, succeeding in pushing Duncan's offending mouth a couple of inches backward. Duncan gave a thrust and Courtney flinched, her teeth baring and biting into Duncan's own lip before she released a moan.

Duncan didn't appear to even notice as his hips gave another push into Courtney's arsehole, more rough than the first time. Courtney's hands clenched and her shut her eyes in pain.

"I'm not a toy," She tried to gasp out in between Duncan's mouth attacks, "Stop being so damn vicious."

The pirate smirked into the kiss before pulling away; his eyes watched down at Courtney arrogantly, "But Princess, the last time you were so durable." His head dipped downward and he nibbled at Courtney's ear beneath his mess of hair, "I promised I'd make this quick." He began turning his hips, and a familiar feeling of ecstasy erupted out in Courtney's body that the royal had to moan a bit more loudly than before.

Duncan sighed lightly into Courtney's ear, "But now, I want to drag it out a little longer." He began pulling out before he sharply went back in, earning another moan from Courtney.

"I'm sure you agree, Princess." Duncan remarked shakily, and right after Courtney felt herself about to let go. It was a painful pleasure and with Duncan's rough and continuous movements everything was going too fast. She squirmed beneath Duncan, and the brunette clearly felt it,

Panting, Courtney struggled, "F-fuck, Duncan, I'm going to—"

Duncan's mouth pressed against hers before she could finish and Courtney found herself throwing her hand away from Duncan's own as her back arched away from the mattress as she came.

Duncan smirked clearly triumphant as he pulled away from Courtney, "Princess, I wanted this to be," He stopped for a second and Courtney found herself raising up breathlessly to reignite their kiss, in between the kiss, Courtney heard Duncan muffling out something though it fell upon deaf ears right as Courtney felt Duncan come right inside of her.

She could feel Duncan's hot liquid filling inside of her and despite this, Duncan gave one last thrust before fully pulling out, panting heavily.

The pirate captain tsked down at the princess that now had her hands freed from above her.

"That was quick enough." Courtney heaved out in between her tired takes for a proper breath.

Duncan moved to give her a quick kiss on the lips once more, and Courtney waited for him to pull away and get off now that the deed was done. However, Duncan only picked his head upward to glare down at Courtney firmly, "I'm letting you go out into the city with me, but promise me Courtney. You aren't going to leave me."

Still a bit disoriented, Courtney took a few seconds to register her words, but apparently it was a few seconds to long as Duncan growled lowly and more forcibly pushed his weight on top of her, "_Promise me_." He stressed out now.

Courtney winced painfully, "I promise!" She quickly replied to appease the captain that immediately let up the pressure.

Duncan contently scowled, "Good. Because you're _mine_." He childishly huffed before rising up from on top of the royal who could only stare up at the ceiling, still light-headed from the sex that just took place. She couldn't even argue with Duncan's possessive statement over her.

However, when realization hit that her had a chance to actually leave the ship, Courtney found herself bouncing upward, a new light emitting from within her.

Finally.


	15. Chapter 15

"Okay, I'm ready." Courtney remarked as she stepped out of Duncan's study to the open air of the ship. Duncan had came back in after their round to give her a new set of clothes that Courtney was pretty sure belonged to Duncan himself.

If the dried stain of blood on one of the sleeves and familiarly odd smell of animal fur was any clue anyhow.

She felt out of place in the clothing. She couldn't see what she really looked like due to the absence of a mirror within Duncan's room, she was confident that she looked a bit ridiculous in pirate clothes though. Bridgette herself when she had worn Beth's own outfit the night before had a bit of a funny look going about her, not just because she was wearing men's clothes, but just in general.

They weren't meant to wear pirate clothes.

It didn't fit them at all.

Her mind wavered back to Owen, once standing amongst the top of the world, at the top of his country with the elite, was now lowered to a status where he wore nothing but tattered rags on a cramped ship with criminals.

How did he make that shift in life so easily?

He'd been so blessed into the world as a noble and he just threw it all away for DJ and Geoff because of 'interest at first sight' or whatever?

Courtney knew that wasn't her and it never would be.

Duncan watched over her with analyzing eyes and Courtney pulled at the bottom of her trousers where tightened boots were giving her too much friction.

"You look good." Duncan complimented simply with a curt nod.

The princess scowled lightly pulled at the cuffed sleeve, "Why do I have to wear this?"

"Because I said so."

The reply was instant and Courtney's scowl grew fiercer as she glared at Duncan challengingly, "I don't want to catch a rash or some other kind of disease from these because I don't even know who they belong to. How long do I have to keep this on?"

Duncan shook his head, his arms folding over his chest before he began walking in the direction of the ship's boarding bridge. Courtney immediately rushed forward to keep up with him, her gaze marveling around as they began moving down the ramped stairs,

"If you catch a disease feel free to appeal to Miss Carson about it. She isn't onboard to be a pretty face, you know." He glanced over at the prince who halted his awing at the numerous amounts of ships in favor of watching Duncan who smirked and winked, "You on the other hand, are."

Feeling her cheeks flush, Courtney snorted as she turned her face away, "Well, considering how many assfaces are on that ship, _someone _has to be the pretty face." She quickly countered.

Even without Duncan chuckling at the teasing remark, Courtney knew he was kidding.

She knew what Duncan really wanted her onboard for… Eventual control over the Crown. Courtney tried to not think of it that way, especially coupled with the fact that Duncan could be an insanely ruthless bastard with not a single care for who he shot down.

The moment they made it to the dock, Courtney could honestly say her heart was beating out of control.

So close to the city. So close…

"Here, put this on." Courtney sputtered when Duncan's hat hit her in the face, and her hands were instantly up to catch the accessory piece. Courtney's little daydream fantasy was thoroughly crushed into oblivious as she stared down at the pirate hat within her hand.

It was the same one that Duncan occasionally wore while on Duncan, black with white linens and a single gleaming green gem at the side that was connected to the mess of feather-like material at the top, the thing seemed like it was actually worth a good amount of money.

Instinctively, Courtney glanced at Duncan in questioning to why she had to put the hat on, and in response, Duncan simply scoffed before cupping his hands around Courtney's and guiding her hands upward to rest the hat on top of her head.

Courtney blinked her eyes blankly as she cautiously lowered her hands while Duncan removed his own, "There. Now you look like a _real _princess."

The royal's eyebrows furrowed and she prepared to retort, but Duncan's hands clasped over one of her once more and the feather haired captain flashed her a grin unlike Courtney had ever seen before, "I take it you've never been to Ireland, let alone Dublin before."

Taken back by the sudden question and Duncan's expression, Courtney couldn't formulate her words steadily enough, "I… Uh… Well… No."

She'd hardly been out of England, only traveling into Wales and Scotland about twice in her lifetime. How Duncan knew that was a bit unsettling and surprising to say the least.

Duncan nodded knowingly, "We're gunna have a lot of fun today then!"

"Excuse me!?" Courtney's voice trailed off into a bit of a shout as she found herself being yanked forward when Duncan broke out into a sprint down the port's wooden bridge. Each step he took forward forced Courtney to make an effort to keep up, which was alarmingly difficult and reminded her that either Duncan was capable of running at superhuman speeds or she needed to get in shape.

Even in the midst of the run, Courtney couldn't help but find her eyes gleaming as she looked ahead.

She was actually on dry land and on her way toward freedom.

When Duncan finally stopped, it was just on the outskirts of the entrance into the city centre. Passing them by the whole time had been curious people that Courtney occasionally lost sight of whenever Duncan's hat slid over her eyes and she struggled to adjust it over her head without having it slide back downward or fly off of her head all together.

Panting, Courtney found her hands moving to her knees as she hunched over to catch her breath that was slipping from her lips at such a rapid pace along with the sensation of lungs that felt just about ready to collapse in her rib cage from exhaustion.

Duncan on the other hand, simply let out a breezy laugh as he wiped his forehead, "That was a fun jog. Got my heart pumped up for some excitement." He glanced downward at the brunette that was still doubled over and he smirked slightly, "Don't you agree, Princess—"

"Fuck off." Courtney hissed, however the moment the words came out her mouth she inwardly scolded herself.

She was in public now.

The distant chatter of the civilians within the crowded centre, coupled along with the clattering of horse hooves that hit against the rundown cobblestone and occasional shouts of advertisement from city venders reminded Courtney that now, she was in civilization once again.

Her eyes scanned over her surroundings in wonder,

Many men seemed to occupy the population around as well as a few women and children who all appeared too caught up in their daily routine to even pay notice to Courtney who was glancing all about her, taking in the sights of the venders and stores along with the occasional galloping horse drawn carriages that transported either people or cargo.

"You've never been to a city centre before?" Duncan arched a brow as Courtney snapped her attention back toward him.

Courtney prepared to retort back wittily, but one look at Duncna's expression and the princess knew he was honestly curious.

Suddenly feeling a bit ashamed, Courtney glanced away, "In England when I made visits into the town in my carriage if that counts?" She couldn't help but finish it as a question because in actuality, she didn't even truly make visits. The only time she made 'visits' was to pass through the town to get to another. She hardly even looked out the window to take a peek at how everyone was fairing outside the walls.

Duncan simply nodded his head in understanding.

Courtney once again moved her eyes from Duncan in favor of watching the scenery around her. Her hand moved to push back up Ducan's hat that was once again threatening to take over her face.

"Well, we can take a look around since you seem so curious." Duncan stated airily and Courtney found herself blinking when the pirate captain's hand grabbed her wrist. Duncan began walking forward and Courtney followed after without much of a choice.

Pushing past a majority of the people ahead, Duncan paved a way for both him and Courtney toward the venders that were negotiating prices with several men.

Items ranged from food like potatoes to trinkets like voodoo necklaces as far down the line as Courtney could see with the wooden stands built up down the road.

When Duncan stopped moving and released her wrist, Courtney snorted before muttering out a quick, 'I'm not a child' and going about to examine the pieces of jewelry set up on the table for display.

As far as real jewels were concerned, it was _far _too easy to distinguish every single one of the items' gems as fake that Courtney gave a dry laugh while she played with one of the necklaces in her hands.

Duncan leaned forward to look at the gleaming ruby, "If you want my opinion, I'm sure you'd look real pretty with that on."

"Oh, shut up." Courtney intervened with a roll of her eyes, "I'm just laughing at how pitifully fake and tacky these things are. Only a fool with horrible fashion taste would _actually _buy one of these." She carelessly dropped the necklace back on the table before she moved her irises around for another piece to examine.

Duncan whistled, "Sassy."

"What was that?"

"I said you look really pretty."

With the charming smile that was flashed his way when Courtney gave him a glare, the royal couldn't help but roll her eyes, "Well, tell me something I don't know." She mumbled distractedly, she pretended to avert her focus back on the ornaments set up at the vending area, however as Duncan's hat began to slip over her forehead once more, Courtney's eyes flashed over to her right side in search of an opening she could possibly use to just break away and run.

If she ran, she was more than positive that Duncan would successfully catch her.

She was dealing with a criminal, not only that, one of the best damn criminals in the whole fucking world. If she wanted to get away, she couldn't rely on her physical side which was far disadvantaged in comparison to Duncan… She'd have to outsmart him and she knew for a fact that her own strategic mind was more than capable of rivaling Duncna's more sneaky set.

Once she got away, the first place she'd have to go would be St. Patrick's Cathedral… The Bishop would be able to help her.

"If you plan on buying anything, just tell me." Duncan insisted as he shifted along with Courtney whenever the raven moved down the vending line to look at whatever else she could.

Courtney gave an incomprehensible mumble to give the idea that she was still warped in looking at commoner's goods.

She had to admit, the people of Dublin certainly had a lot of potatoes and fish… Which she supposed made sense because Dublin was right by the sea and potatoes were all the Irish could breathe.

"Now why would anyone want to play with these things?" Courtney found herself asking aloud as she glanced over a wide array of kites.

The patterns on all of them were creative, she had to admit, but kite flying seemed so _dull_.

You stand on the ground holding a piece of rope while the thing flew in the air. What was so fun about that?

"My sister used to love kites." Duncan softly remarked while he picked up one of the more box-shaped kites that had been splash painted. Not prepared for the rather serious topic, Courtney found herself freezing up as Duncan examined the kite more closely; "I never understood why," Duncan glanced over at Courtney with a small smile, "I mean, what's so great about standing and holding rope?"

Weakly, Courtney nodded, "Maybe she just liked watching the scenery?"

She didn't like talking about this.

It made her feel too uncomfortable as though the air around her was too thick to properly breathe. Duncan speaking to her about his deceased sister, who was only deceased because of Courtney's father, was strange and left a large sensation of foreboding over Courtney's heart.

Duncan tilted his head slightly, a rather uncharacteristic frown coming to his lips, "Maybe. Or maybe because kites were one of the only play things we had."

"Oh." Was all Courtney could say. Because what else can you say when in a situation like this?

With Duncan's continuous stare on the kite within his hands, Courtney could easily say this had to be her first time seeing Duncan like this.

He looked so distant; his eyes didn't appear to be with him.

It was strange.

Seeing Duncan so _sad _was strange.

"Duncan, I'm going to have sisters soon, you know." Courtney stated, her arms moved to intertwine with the feather haired male's own limb and she maneuvered her hand to cover one of Duncan's that clutched the kite, "They're going to be troublesome at times. Since I'm the soon-to-be oldest, it'll gets a bit frustrating too." She offered him a minuscule smile. And thought about her mother who is carrying her two younger sisters, the royal was informed of her mother's pregnancy just before she was to leave for France.

Duncan sighed as he shook his head. He lowered the kite and turned to face Courtney simply, "Ironically enough, that's one of the reasons I wanted to marry you." Duncan untangled their arms and Courtney found herself growing a bit embarrassed as Duncan watched her seriously, "All the females around me were lovely, but far too strange for my liking." He chuckled while fitting his hands into his pockets,

"Then I looked at a picture of you and suddenly I had the perfect lover in mind." His eyes moved upward, "If only I could go back in time. I'd tell myself not to worry, because the prince _does _end up being mine. Technicalities aside."

"Can I just begin to say how I thought you were being sweet but then you just had to ruin it with that last bit? Asshole." Courtney growled while leering offensively at the leisurely standing pirate that shrugged uncaringly.

Courtney would have gone off with a thousand insults that flashed into her mind that attacked practically everything about the captain, but before she could, Duncan was looking at one of his sliver pocket watches skeptically.

"We should get going." Duncan mused to himself quietly.

Courtney arched a brow, "Get going where?"

Without an answer to her question, Duncan turned to begin walking, and he only held up a single hand that beckoned Courtney to follow after him.

Now, the princess began weighing her options.

She could run now. Duncan wasn't paying attention. If she just turned and ran, she could probably get far enough away from Duncan and get her way to the Cathedral for the clergy's assistance.

Duncan's back was going further into the crowd and just as Courtney took a step backward, Duncan glanced over his shoulder, his eyes impatient as though to say 'Hurry up'.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Courtney took a shaky step forward to catch up with the raven.

She'd have to have another opportunity…

"So where exactly are we going?" Courtney breathlessly inquired as she made it in step beside the strutting captain.

Duncan flipped his hair casually, not stopping to give the princess a glance, "To visit an old friend of mine."

Speaking of old friends…

"Do you know where Geoff, DJ, Beth and Bridgette are? Also, why do you guys keep Owen locked up on the ship alone?"

"I know that my entire crew is within the city. Knowing DJ and Beth they probably tried going into a pub and knowing Beoff and Bridgette they stopped those two from going into the pub. Owen is locked up on the ship, not alone I mind you, Harold and a few others are still onboard, because we're in Leinster and it'd be completely idiotic of me to allow him here when searches for the missing Potter noble are still going on." Duncan let out an arrogant snort that Courtney had to roll his eyes at,

It made sense that Owen wasn't going off the ship for that reason and the more Courtney thought about it, the more stupid it made her seem for even asking the question in the first place.

"Alright… So how far away is this place? Because I'm not feeling all too comfortable…" Courtney honestly muttered, they had been walking for about ten minutes in pure silence aside from Courtney's grunts and pants from when she nearly toppled over the uneven ground that was roughly put together and Duncan's warning growls toward the homeless beggars that all intently watched both of them as they kept their descent down the road.

Courtney noted that the farther they walked the more rundown the area became.

The centre hadn't been nearly this bad with the amount of poor people in the streets and the buildings looked inhabitable. Here, everyone was skinnier than Courtney ever thought possible and had the dirtiest rags to cover their bodies.

She couldn't help but wonder where they'd go when winter set in. Those thin clothes they had on and the small blankets would hardly help them from the stormy rain that would eventually come.

It was sad to think about and watch, especially when she saw the children without a guardian all alone.

"It's disgusting, isn't it?" Duncan humorlessly laughed as he shook his head, his steps not faltering, "How they're all suffering out here?"

Courtney didn't know how to respond, her mind going back pace to Owen who had lightly told her of Ireland's struggle due to the Crown and British nobility.

Once again, she found guilt squirming its way into her stomach.

Owen said it was bad… But this was _terrible_.

Exactly how many places were there in Dublin like here? How many places in _Ireland_? She knew the number had to be higher than her teachings in England ever told her. She knew there were poor people and she knew they were hurting… But this was just sad.

She watched a mother try to pacify her sobbing infant to no avail. The woman glanced upward and made brief eye contact with Courtney. Frowning, the princess quickly looked away and turned to Duncan who sighed, "The place is right in here." Duncan hummed as he came to a stop at a door down one of the narrow alleyways.

Courtney unsurely looked around the area as Duncan gave a double knock to the wooden entrance.

A sliding peep hole was opened toward the top middle of the door, and a set of eyes glared down at both brunets.

"Identification, Hayes." Duncan simply droned out. The eyes seemingly nodded in confirmation at him before moving to look at Courtney right as Duncan's hat went over his face. "She's with me." Duncan stated easily.

As Courtney pushed the hat back up, she came to see the door opening ever so slowly.

The inside was dark and only a few dim oil lamps lit up the area that appeared to be just like a bar-esque set up.

"Welcome back, Captain Hayes." The rather burly man who had opened the door for them greeted, his voice a low octave that made Courtney cringe as she followed after Duncan who began walking coolly down the aisles of the place all too familiarly.

"Excuse me," Duncan said in regards to the woman working behind the counter of the bar, she wore men's clothes but her hair still flowed long and her face was too feminine for her to pass as a male. "Do you know when Captain Mclean is coming in this afternoon, love?" He smiled charmingly at the female and Courtney found irritation entering the pit of her stomach at that moment.

Duncan sounded so _fake_.

Did he really just have to turn on the 'charm' for this woman? Why couldn't he just put in the terror that came with his title of the infamous Captain Hayes?

Honestly, he was smiling and being all cutesy when he was normally scowling and glaring for this girl. She wasn't even special.

The girl giggled and leaned over the counter, her boobs practically pushing against the surface of the countertop toward Duncan as she batted her eyelashes, "Sorry, I can't say I do. However, you're free to stay in here as long as possible until he does come in."

With her rich curls and brown eyes, she reminded Courtney a lot of Beth but with the little booby show going on and curly hair; it was insulting to place Bethin the same league as her.

"Hm… But I may grow bored. Perhaps, you can provide me with some company while I wait, young miss?"

Why was Duncan even flirting with her? He was always supposed to be tough, wasn't he?

She could remember practically everyone on the ship telling her that she had always been the one to receive Duncan's good side. Only her.

So why was this bitch getting the smiles that was only supposed to be going towards Courtney?

She couldn't help but glare at her in annoyance.

"Oh? But what about your friend?" She didn't even glance in Courtney's direction.

"What about her?" Duncan smirked as the female let out an irritating laugh, "She doesn't have to be a factor in this."

Courtney grunted and shot a leer in Duncan's direction, "I—"

"Okay, Captain Hayes, I see you still got the password in mind." The bartender now seriously stated, her playful tone evaporating from her speech in such way that it sounded like a completely different person.

The princess's eyes grew wide as she turned to look at the female who was now pulling up her hair into a messy bun before she expertly put her legs over the counter and jumped off the edge, "Captain Mclean will see you now." Her eyes scanned over Duncan judgingly,

Confused, Courtney glanced at Duncan for some sort of answer to the female's sudden change, but he didn't appear to notice Courtney's bewilderment,

Duncan's smile didn't disappear as he returned the evaluating look on her body, "You haven't changed a bit."

"Stop staring at my tits.." The female snorted as she turned on her heel to begin leading them down the back of the bar.

Duncan let out a snort, "Does this mean we won't play after I'm done with my meeting?"

"Maybe, that or you can use your friend over there, she seems like your type."

"_Excuse me_?" Courtney sputtered out in disbelief,

The captain of Ravenwood chuckled as he gave Courtney a reassuring wink, "Don't mind her. She's just an old acquaintance of mine from the Lionheart."

"Along with this Captain Mclean person?" Courtney questioned with furrowed eyebrows,

When Duncan didn't respond and instead began walking ahead to a seat within the back where a single man sat, almost away from all the lights, Courtney halted her steps, unsure on if she should follow behind or…

Her head looked backward at the free opportunity to just leave.


	16. Chapter 16

Courtney took a step backward; her eyes remained glued to the back of Duncan's head as she slowly moved herself rearward.

This was it.

Gradually, she turned her whole body around, her heart beating faster at this.

She was finally getting away from Duncan. At last, she'd be on the road to running away.

As Courtney prepared to extend her foot forward, she found herself freezing in place as Duncan's voice seemingly echoed throughout her being,

"Princess?"

Courtney tried to mask all signs of guilt from her face right before she glanced over her shoulder to look at Duncan who was watching her in what appeared to be annoyance,

"What the hell are you doing? Come on." The pirate captain grumbled with a wave toward her.

Smiling as innocently as possible, Courtney nodded, "Yeah, I just really need to use the toilet… Do you know where it is?"

Duncan groaned with a roll to his eyes and Courtney resisted the urge to take off her thick boot and just chuck it at the over confident twat's head. Was he _really _getting annoyed because Courtney had to use the restroom? Inconsiderate little shit.

It reminded Courtney why she needed to get away.

Duncan didn't value her as a person at all. He saw her as an object.

Everything else be damned… She had to just get away.

"Go ask Cheryl to show you the way… I can't keep putting Captain Mclean off." Duncan distractedly mumbled as he turned back around, his eyes fleeting further down the bar,

Courtney scowled with a nod, "Okay." She expected that to be the end of it, and when she released a single breath while turning away to retreat back in the direction where she had came from, she didn't let Duncan's lasting words mess up her stride,

"Meet back up with me when you finish, I'll be through the door down the very end of this aisle."

"_Okay_." Courtney repeated out a bit more stressed than before.

She tried to stay casual, not show any signs of escaping on her face as she made her way toward the bar set up where the woman from before was still wiping the counter while humming tunelessly.

As Courtney approached, her eyes shot at the door, which was still being guarded by the heavily built man.

Knowing that the scene that would occur would be loud if she even attempted to escape through the front door, Courtney found herself clearing her throat to the brunette that was cleaning.

"Excuse me, but can you point me in the direction of the restroom?" She politely inquired her hands moving to adjust the hat on top of her head for the umpteenth time,

While glancing upward, the woman pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear, "Down this hall," Her thumb jerked to Courtney's right, "Straight ahead, second door on your right."

"Thank you very much; I love your earrings by the way." She complimented with a smile before she returned the beam proudly while she moved out to touch the gleaming diamonds.

The moment her back was turned, Courtney rolled her eyes with a grimace.

She just needed to get a plan together…

Maybe there was another way out… Like a back door?

If this place was some sort of underground-meeting place for criminals, surely they had an alternative exit in case the authorities tried to bust in or something.

When she reached the hall as she had been directed to earlier, she tried to remain cautious as she came upon the lavatory door. Taking the knob in hand, she slowly pushed herself in. The place was nothing fancy… Just a single toilet as the room wasn't too large on its own. The walls were so closely compacted that if Courtney extended both of her arms, they'd both touch the walls.

She prepared to turn back with a disappointed grunt; however, her eyes glanced a bit more upward.

An opened window was high up, near the ceiling…

Not discouraged, Courtney began thinking of a way to reach it. If she stood on the toilet, he wouldn't be high enough, but the walls were close… She bit her bottom lip while closing the door behind her. A hand came to her chin before she locked the doorknob.

This was it.

Duncan tried to keep his posture straight and face held high as he sat across from his old mentor, Chris Mclean, former Captain of the ship Lionheart.

"It's been a while, hasn't it Captain Mclean?" Duncan breathed out with a smile that was hardly returned, not that the expected any differently.

His old Captain had never been one to openly display affection, something Duncan had grown all too accustomed to back in his days on the ship that was now hundreds of feet beneath water in the Atlantic.

Chris folded his arms and leaned back in his seat, "We both know you didn't go through hell and back to find me and schedule this meeting just to talk over old times, Duncan. Let's get straight down to business."

Duncan's smile dropped and Chris groaned, "I'm actually more curious than annoyed that you managed to find me. I thought for sure I was undetectable to _anyone_." The elder man reached over the table for the bottle of liquor before pouring some into his glass. He picked up the cup and slushed it around leisurely, "How did you do it?"

"A pirate captain has his ways of finding things out. I was taught by the best after all." Duncan acknowledged with a shrug that Chris instantly rolled his eyes at, before he leaned backward, "But anyways, I was wondering if you could tell me what you know about the Stuart's Coffer."

All at once, Chris's bored expression turned into that of slight interest as his eyes watched Duncan expectantly for him to continue,

"I just need to know because for the past few months, I've been aimlessly searching around northern Europe for it. I have several leads and hints, but nothing has given me a solid finding for it. But you're_you_so I figured you'd have some sort of idea, if not, the exact coordinates to its location." He had to be blunt about it.

"Stuart's Coffer? You're going after treasure again?" Chris snorted, his mouth moving to take a brief sip of his drink before he shook his head pitifully, "Treasure chests and gold hunts are child's play, Hayes. I thought you grew out of that phase when you became the royal of the seven seas."

Duncan scowled, "I just want to know if you know where it is. I don't need your opinion on the subject, Captain."

"I'm not a Captain anymore, Hayes." Chris firmly stated, "I gave up that life for a reason, so you can stop referring to me as that. That aside, yes, I do know where the Stuart's Coffer is, though I am surprised that you resorted to finding me out just for the thing."

The pirate captain couldn't help but raise up to defend himself, "It wasn't my decision… My First Mate convinced me that we were wasting provisions since we had no clue where to start and that getting a direct answer was best."

Chris chuckled unsmilingly, "What a world we live in where the captain doesn't make the decisions… The First Mate does. In any event, I'll get you the coordinates to the island the Coffer's on, even if I still don't understand why you'd want the thing. Just your average chest of treasure."

Duncan nodded his head, "I appreciate it, sir."

"Now, I actually am quite curious…" Chirs now more seriously piped and for that, the feather haired male blinked his eyes while watching back at him intently, "You've made a name for yourself, and I'm proud of you for that. You went from cabin boy to captain in so little time and within a few years, you have every single monarch in Europe and colonists in the Americas knowing your name with blood chilling fear, something even _I _wasn't capable of doing. So tell me, at the prime of your career, how does it feel to be at the top of the Wanted list?"

Unable to stop the smirk from growing on his face, Duncan leaned his face on his hand casually, "Feels as good as it sounds. Everything so far has been going my way and I feel at the top of my game, almost as though nothing can go wrong for me."

Chris frowned now, his expression solemn, "You're still young. Especially for all that you've accomplished in the past couple years… Therefore it's easy for you to make one mistake that will mess you up permanently—"

"I _don't _make mistakes, sir." Duncan intervened confidently, "Everything I do is carefully calculated and planned out. I don't allow myself to ever lose. It's just not possible."

"Duncan, it has come to my attention that you are in possession of the Princess of the United Kingdom."

The response was quick and not one that Duncan even expected. He was swift to cover his surprise and he watched at Chris stilly, "How did you find out?"

"It doesn't matter. What _does _matter is the simple fact that you're still in the United Kingdom with that royal on your hands." Chirs's face cringed as he the term 'royal' almost as though the word was a pain to speak.

Duncan remained stoic, "I understand that, but I already made sure she'd stay within my sight as long as we're here for the time being. So far on our way here, no one noticed anything suspicious and if anyone notices on our way back, I'll put an end to them before they can do a thing." He informed simply with a curt nod.

His words made Chris arch a brow, "Where is she now?"

"In the lavatory." Duncan automatically answered, his voice secure.

"She's been in there since you came to sit?" Chris further investigated, he sounded on the brink of scoffing,

However, that made Duncan stop for a moment to rethink everything for a second.

Courtney had been in the toilet before Duncan even got to sit down with Chris.

It _had _been a bit of a while…

"I'll be back, excuse me." Duncan muttered quickly as he stood up from his seat. Chris watched up at him dully as he slid a piece of paper onto the table toward Duncan before his arms were folding over his chest once more, "No, you won't be."

Duncan picked up the piece of paper and shoved it into his pocket before he began stalking toward the front of the bar.

As he reached the door, he heard Chris call from behind, "Good-bye, Duncan. Give the royal my greetings when you see her."

"Thanks. I will." Duncan threw back while he kept his power walk ahead.

Already knowing the way to the bathroom, Duncan mumbled a quick greeting to Cheryl who was shining one of the glasses with an intrigued look to her face, "Did your friend drink any cleansing medicines before she came here? She's been in the restroom for a while."

Duncan couldn't even formulate a response, his feet forcing him forward a little faster with each step ahead as he made it into the hallway that the restroom was located at. When he stopped at the door, he immediately cleared his throat, "Princess, you still in there?"

Silence.

Pressing his ear against the door for any muffled noises that Courtney may have been making, Duncan pulled away with a grimace,

"Princess?" He questioningly inquired with a knock on the door.

Silence was his sole response.

Duncan gave another powerful knock to the door, "Princess, I'm serious. Answer me."

His hands halted from the rapping to give the prince a chance to be heard properly, however when he received no response, he found himself growing slightly annoyed, "Princess." He continued sternly, and when he folded his arms over his chest for a few seconds to see if the princess inside would stop being stubborn and _fucking _answer him, Harry found his teeth gritting.

"_Courtney_," Duncan icily growled out lowly,

Duncan felt his eyebrows crease in growing frustration when no sign of the royal turned up once more.

"Courtney, open the fucking door or I'm coming in."

The foreboding feeling in his chest was growing rapidly and Duncan clutched the doorknob tightly before giving it a sharp twist to the side. Realizing it was locked, the pirate captain wasted no time in reaching to his side to grab out his pistol and he directed it at the door's hinges before he pulled the trigger.

Kicking down the wooden frame, Duncan rushed himself inside, nothing but irritation lining his facial features as he prepared to unleash a load of disciplinary snarls at the royal, but he stopped.

Courtney wasn't there.

He left…

Courtney left him.

Quick to hold back his initial distress, Duncan immediately went to work at solving the little mystery.

It was impossible for her to have gone out the front door because the bouncer wouldn't have let her out without Duncan there with her… His eyes shot upward to the single window…

At first glance, a person could say it was impossible to jump out because of its height, however if angled right a person could slide themselves up from the closely compact walls and reach the window without fail. The size of the window along with the fact it was opened was enough to send Duncan's eyes narrowing into slits.

Whirling on his heel with a snarl coming to his lips, the raven began stalking out the bathroom and hallway,

A game of cat and mouse wasn't something he was in the mood for at _all_.

But if Courtney was idiotic enough to try and _escape _in a country she'd never even been in before but Duncan knew like the back of his hand, so be it.

"The things I'll do to that intractable, disgraceful piece of shit when I find her…"


	17. Chapter 17

When Courtney thought of home, many things came to mind.

The halls of the massive palace, always kept sparkling and bright, the large windows down the corridors bringing in a numerous amount of natural light as well as a beautiful view of the rose garden outside to the side of the building.

Her lessons for education that she had somewhat dreaded attending with her strict instructor, where she learned more than she felt would be necessary for her ascent to the throne.

Late night escapades with Bridgette when the two basically ran around lawlessly in the middle of the night, evading the guards that tried locking them in their rooms in favor of sneaking into the rooms of the other's rooms and completely messing with them while they slept.

Those special afternoons with Bridgette out in the rose garden when she was able to completely be herself with her over the political mess and pressure her instructor would constantly remind him of.

She remembered at one point she wished that she could still be royalty without the political bullshit that came with it but Bridgette told her not to think so irresponsibly because she was blessed.

Courtney panted as she continued her run down the uneven street,

"Watch it!" A man snapped at her angrily after Courtney had bumped past him, her run not slowing.

The royal held onto her left arm painfully, her head stuck to the ground, her heart thudding powerfully.

Courtney could remember the family dinners she shared with her parents. She always made jokes that was deemed inappropriate by her father and often got her scolded, but it was all light-hearted unless she took it too far. Her mother laughed a majority of the time.

She could hardly remember the sound of her family's laugh anymore.

When was the last time she'd seen them? Surely it wasn't that long, but with everything that had happened to her thus far, it felt like an eternity.

Courtney made a sharp turn down around a building and she found herself crashing into a group of women who all shrieked in surprise as she stumbled through them with a grunt. Her steps nearly went over and she almost tripped, but she found her balance and continued going.

Courtney recalled how upset she had been when she discovered she was being sent to France to study abroad.

Her instructor was tough, but the man was one of the best teacher's a person could have. Her parents played good cop bad cop and the moment her father angrily lashed out at her; Courtney could only storm off and away, angrily accepting her fate.

Her father's word was law after all.

Being a princess left her grounded to that as well.

Bridgette had visited her room that night to comfort her on the news. Courtney hadn't been very open to it; she was still moody on the concept of leaving home for France.

Courtney tried to halt her steps as a horse rider galloped down the other parallel street, the man on top oblivious to the increasingly tired young man less than a few feet away.

Now that she stopped her run for the first time since she'd left the bar, Courtney could feel the power her adrenaline had first given her seeping out of her at last. Her lungs were burning but she knew she had to keep going on even if it killed her.

Just as she finished trying to catch her breath, a cold water droplet hit her nose from above, and Courtney inwardly cursed at her terrible luck.

Her head glanced upward, and then she was reminded of Duncan's hat that had miraculously stayed on her head from her long drafted run.

Another drop of rain fell from the sky and another, the number increasingly swiftly and Courtney glanced all about in an effort to find a proper place for shelter from the precipitation that was now on the verge of slamming down much harder.

Courtney slid her back against one of the stone buildings on the streets, her hand taking the hat from on top of her head off to hold so hier own skull could hit the hard structure behind her. The place of where she had taken the brunt of the fall from the window gave a throb of pain, and Courtney winced as her right hand held onto her left arm tightly.

Shutting her black eyes, she tried to remain positive with everything that had happened thus far.

She was positive she had enough distance between her and Duncan… But the more logical side of her condemned her.

She had acted stupidly.

Jumping out the window to escape when she had not the slightest clue on where anything was in the city.

Even if she and Duncan were far apart, Duncan had the advantage of knowing the city's layout, not to mention he _knew _that Courtney didn't know anything about Ireland, let alone Dublin.

When she had been climbing to the window in the restroom, the only thing that had been in her mind was getting away from Duncan… Because that was quite possibly the only time she'd actually be separated from the captain who was distracted.

It had been the perfect opportunity, but in the end… The opportunity didn't even matter because in the end she was still nothing more but a chess piece on Duncan's game board.

This was all getting too hard.

Courtney bit her bottom lip as she slowly glided her back down from the building behind her.

A lightning flash struck overhead and the clap of thunder rumbled not too long after and Courtney gave the clouds above a blank look as it appeared like the sky was crying, which she found painfully ironic… If anyone should be crying, it should be her. All the bullshit she'd been forced to put up with for so long was taking its toll on her.

Duncan was going to kill her if he got her. That was a known fact.

Courtney could only imagine the captain's rage when he figured out Courtney had escaped, because the pirate was smart enough to know a break out… He was a criminal after all.

If Duncan got to her, all thoughts of freedom would be gone.

If Courtney wanted to get home, right now it was do or die.

Exhaling hugely, the brunette pushed herself up to her feet. The rain above continued falling heavily and Courtney glanced down at the hat in her hand thoughtfully. It'd be foolish to leave it where she once was because if Duncan somehow passed by later and saw it, she'd have some sort of clue to the direction Courtney was moving in.

St. Patrick's Cathedral.

That's where she had to go.

If only she knew the way.

People continued walking down the cobblestoned streets, their umbrellas pulled out as they went on with their day, ignorant to Courtney's plight.

"Excuse me, ma'am… Please, a moment of your time." Courtney's voice croaked out, her throat was dry from all her running and she hoped she didn't look like too much of a mess when she stepped out in the street to approach a woman who had been passing by with fruits from the shopping centre in her possession.

She blinked, her umbrella shifting in her hand as she watched Courtney cautiously.

"Can you point me in the direction of St. Patrick's Cathedral, please?" She asked tiredly.

The directions given to her were enough to tell Courtney that the trip wouldn't be far as she had feared. She praised whatever force appeared to be on her side as of now.

Earlier, the rain had begun to ease up and halfway through her excursion to the Cathedral it had stopped all together. Her only complaint would be the fact that her arm was still aching from her fall. She didn't think it was too high up to have broken any bones, or at least she hoped it wasn't…

When she got back to England, she was sure it'd all be fixed up and when she sees the large church building in the distance from her position down the street, she can easily say that the pain in her arm was forgotten.

She had placed Duncan's hat over her head a while back—just because she didn't want to wet her hair more! That was all!— and at this point when she started running down the thick mucked roadway, she could feel the thing threatening to fall over her eyes once more. She pushed it up, the grin on her face growing as she dawned upon the building.

It was getting closer and closer and with each step she took, she could feel her heart racing upward and excitement nearly reaching its peak.

As she began walking past the dark rusted gates toward the entrance, she felt the joy radiating out of her pores right before she reached the large entry gate. Blinded with glee, the royal reached for the latch to open and enter the church's property.

Her smile disappeared the moment she lifted her head.

"Hey, Courtney."

Courtney's world dimmed to the point of near blackness and she could feel her heart rate beating faster not for the same positive effects as before, but from panic.

"Why?" She questioned out in frustration, her head throwing backward to look into the sky, "_Why_?"

Geoff scowled lightly, his blue eyes plain, "I think that's my line. I know what happened with you and Duncan. I—"

Unable to help herself, Courtney grunted, "I don't care what you have to say, alright? Just don't even. I've had more than enough with you fucking crooks for one lifetime." She held her right hand up to silence the pirate that cringed.

Courtney hadn't expected this to happen, because _how _could it happen?

Had Duncan really been able to contact Geoff so quickly? How had Geoff even known she was going to be here? Was it that obvious?

When she thought about it, it probably was considering the circumstances… But why hadn't Duncan himself come here rather than Geoff?

Something wasn't adding up.

But she still had one obstacle in her way to freedom now and lucky enough for her, it was one of the weakest links of Ravenwood.

Duncan was a fool if he thought someone as nice as Geoff would be able to stop her from getting home now.

"I'm so close and I won't let you ruin this for me, geoff. I know what I did to get away from Duncan was bad, but you _know _how I've been treated. I swear, if you just don't interfere, I won't tell them it was you all that had me. I'll make up some false story about some other kidnappers and the United Kingdom will leave you all well enough alone. I swear, just don't…" She attempted to reason, if Geoff didn't let her through then there'd be problems to come.

"I'm not going to try and stop you, Courtney." Geoff strongly spoke and at that moment, Courtney's eyes grew wide as she watched the First Mate of Ravenwood sigh, his hands moving into his pockets,

It couldn't be that easy.

"It's not that easy." Courtney immediately replied causing Geoff to shake his head before speaking, "I understand that you have a huge desire to go home… But I want you to stop and think for a minute."

Courtney licked her chapping lips right before Geoff continued, his eyes turning more serious than they had been previously, "Duncan is the most deadly pirate to ever sail the seven seas. He's called the Prince of the Crimson Sea for a reason that's more morbid than I'd like to say. He's killed many and for each life he's taken, I'm more than positive that he hasn't felt a pinch of remorse… But with you, Courtney, when I say that _you _actually mean something to him—"

Against the better of her, Courtney scoffed, "I _mean _something to him?" Her hand reached beneath her shirt to pull out her collar's leash, she waved the rope in the air with a dim glare in Geoff's direction, "You mean the same way a rag doll means to a dog? Because that's the only thing I'm getting at."

"I thought you two were getting along better."

"We shouldn't have been getting along at all." Courtney countered hotly, "I shouldn't have been on that ship. I shouldn't have been kidnapped. I don't mean anything to Duncan except just being another person to play with, and that's something I _refuse _to fit the role of. I'm no one's play thing, Geoff."

"You say that because of your life from before and because you don't know Duncan. Courtney, just hear me out. Duncan treats you unlike anyone he has before, okay? He talks about you in a way that prompts our teasing at you. If he didn't have some sort of fondness for you, don't you think he would have killed you already?" Geoff defended loosely, though Courtney's eyebrows only furrowed.

She didn't want to stand here and be placed in a debate about why she shouldn't want to go back to being a prisoner.

It was stupid.

"I'm done with this conversation." Courtney breathed with a shake to her head, she began walking forward, and Courtney stood still as the two nearly brushed shoulders. In all honesty, Courtney somewhat expected Geoff to just grab her while she passed him, but he never did to her relief.

When Courtney was about to reach the steps to enter the church she heard Geoff regard her politely,

"You have Duncan's hat."

Courtney halted her movements to look back at the pirate who hadn't turned around from his spot below. Frowning, Courtney looked upward at the hat on her head, "Yeah… He gave it to me earlier." She debated on if she should offer it to Geoff to give to Duncan, but when too much time passed in between the sentence, she knew it'd be too awkward for her to say.

Geoff glanced over his shoulder with a small nod, his face stoic, "I see."

The royal nodded back before she turned to continue up the steps and right as she dawned upon the door, Geoff spoke out once more, his tone exasperated, "Courtney, you can't say I didn't try to help."

Confused, Courtney arched an eyebrow upward, "Well, good bye to you too." Shrugging it off, she ran a quick hand through her hair with her eyes turning back to the stain glassed décor that the large door held to enter the cathedral.

She hoped she didn't look too messed up especially now when she'd be seeing the bishop.

Letting out a calming breath, Courtney took a hold of the door handle before she pushed it open.

The door creaked loudly in comparison to the dead silence the place of worship held and Courtney's eyes trailed down the great cathedral in awe. The art work that lined the walls and ceiling were beautiful and she was reminded of the numerous amounts of times she had visited her own church back in England when she had been younger.

Walking further in, she kept her neck craned upward at the remarkable paintings; however her expression turned into that of dread the moment her gaze ended up on the stage.

Duncan sat on the stage, his legs hanging off of the platform casually as he watched ahead at Courtney darkly, "Very coincidental to meet up with you here, Courtney."

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Everything on Courtney's mind was literally about to spiral out of control.

Why was Duncan here!? Geoff had already been outside! Why was Duncan here!? Why!?

The question throbbed inside of her skull, bouncing off of the walls of her brain too many times for Courtney to register and she could feel herself quaking a bit in panic.

This wasn't good. This wasn't good _at all_.

"H-how did you…?" She couldn't help the slight stutter that entered her speech as she took a step backward,

Duncan tilted his head to the side, unlike usual, there was no smirk of arrogance on his face as he looked at Courtney, nothing but a firm and tight line of neutrality.

"I would say I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not." His arms folded over his chest and his lips pulled back into a bit of a snarl, "This is _my _game, not yours. In this game, let me tell you; you aren't even a _player. _Courtney, you are a game piece." His words came out calmly right as he stood up from his seat.

Duncan turned to walk more into the stage, and as he did, Courtney found her heart beginning to quiver a bit in fear as she now actually came to terms with seeing a man tied with chain links to the large cross center-piece of the church.

The man had a white gag placed over his mouth, but even so he made no audible mumbles or protests. Instead, his eyes followed Duncan's movements in distinguishable terror.

The pirate captain leaned forward toward the captive male's ear to whisper something and with Duncan's back turned to her, contemplated turning around and running.

She couldn't find the feelings in her legs to do so, because now it was like she was dealing with a different Duncan.

The same Duncan that she had seen on The Rose that night… Except now, Courtney was on the receiving end of his fury.

If she stayed, she had a feeling Duncan was going to kill her because everything she had done was now falling back into her face. She had escaped and done exactly what Duncan hadn't wanted her to do and now she was getting the backlash.

And as Duncan pulled away from speaking to the bishop to turn his attention back to the royal, Courtney suddenly found Bridgette's feelings toward Duncan relatable.


	18. Chapter 18

Owen found his ears perking up the moment he heard a knock on the door to his room.

Everything was always dull without DJ or Geoff with him. After Duncan had kicked him out of the room, he'd gone to his own room to see if he could nap the day away and with some hope, when he woke up Geoff and DJ would be back and they'd finally be leaving this side of Ireland.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case as he had awoken from a nap a while ago. Owen knew they weren't back because at least one of them would have burst through the door and embraced him and asked if he were okay or not, then everything would be fine.

He hated thinking about it because it made him more antsy for them to come back.

The Irishman had kept his gaze up to the ceiling, his boredom peaking up to such heights that he found nearly frustrating but that's how it always was. He couldn't risk going into Ireland and having someone recognize him because then problems would arise and he couldn't have that.

He couldn't be separated from Geoff or DJ.

A couple hours were hard enough to endure let alone forever.

So when he heard the rap on the door, he actually grew a bit confused.

It was his room and even he wasn't polite enough to knock on the door to his own room…

Sitting upward, he watched the entrance curiously, "Come in." He instructed, he heard a thud happen right outside the walls as the door opened slightly.

"DJ, please… The room is right in here." Bridgette scolded tiredly, her elbow pushing the door open to hit the wall behind it.

owen could only look on in puzzlement as Bridgette with an incredibly hunched back carried Beth and reached out frantically to grab DJ's hand as the brunet leaned on the wall opposite to the room's entrance.

Bridgette sighed heavily when it became apparent that DJ wasn't moving from his spot any time soon and instead moved her head to gaze back at Owen. Her smile was shy as her legs visibly shook, "I-I'm so sorry for bothering you Owen, but they drank a lot at the bar and I need help, please." She begged out lowly.

Instantly Owen was at his feet to assist the blonde that was clearly about to topple over with Beth's weight on her back. "No problem!" He reassured as he reached out to help Beth down.

"Owen, I'll fucking kick your ass," Beth slurred out, she made a notion to move her hand from the blond's grip as he guided her to his bed to sit down however her efforts were weak against the male that could only snicker when the straight haired female had trouble sitting upward.

"Bridgette! Bridgette! Where are you?" The female pirate cried, her hands frantically moving around the bed sheets in search of the blonde that rubbed her shoulder with an appreciative smile Owen's way before he moved to walk outside toward DJ who was slowly sliding down the wall with a groan.

When he wrapped his arms around the taller male's sinking waist,Owen began pulling him upward.

DJ moaned, his eyes fluttering open in a daze, "Owen?" He questioned out sluggishly as Owen started leading him inside of his room with a degree of difficulty considering how much dead weight the brunet haired pirate held.

"Yeah, I'm here, DJ." Owen answered back right before he tossed the heavy male on the bed beside Beth.

Bridgette sighed, she moved to take a seat on the edge of the bed prior to grabbing hold of Beth's arms to bring her upward, however as she did so, Beth surprised her by taking a stronger grip on her wrists and pulling her downward beside her into an embrace with a giggle, "I love you, Bridge!" The straight haired brunette exclaimed.

On the other side of the bed, DJ was starting to shakily get up to his feet once more. Owen watched him in slightly amusement as DJ made eye contact with him and gave a huge grin, his arms out stretching as he began to stumble towards him, "Owen!" He lovingly called, his balance going right as Owen reached forward to catch him.

DJ's arms constricted around him snuggly and before Owen could say anything, he wasn't _too _wasted.

Pulling away, Owen attempted to ignore the noises of displeasure that DJ made as he watched down at Bridgette who was now trying to appease the giggling female on the bed who was playing with her hair.

Owen couldn't help himself as he shook his head, "They're drunk." He stated as a matter of fact. However when DJ huffed in annoyance and buried his face into the crook of the Irishman's neck, Owen snorted, "Okay, Beth's drunk. DJ's tipsy."

"I am not." DJ drawled out defensively, his tone serious before a smile came to his lips. "Yes."

DJ scowled at him while Owen sighed, "You're drunk or at least pretty damn close to it, so don't even think about doing any of that."

"You're pretty, Bridgette." Beth blissfully remarked while resting her forehead on the girl's shoulder, "I know a secret, do ya wanna hear it?"

With a flustered smile, Bridgette patted the pirate's hair down, "Sure, but tell me when you're sober, Beth."

Blowing out a puff of air, Beth frowned, "Geoff likes you! Do you like him?" Bridgette blushed and nodded, hearing Geoff's name reminded Owen.

"Where's Geoff?" He questioned with furrowed brows in Bridgette's direction.

"Huh? Oh, when we were in the bar Duncan had come in for him and they left together. That's when these two started drinking like crazy because Geoff wasn't there to stop them." Bridgette truthfully remarked with a sigh,

Owen blinked his eyes, "Do you know if he already came back on the ship?"

Nodding her head, Bridgette watched at Owen curiously, "I think so, because they were pulling up the bridge after we came on since we were the last ones."

Flashing her a quick thumbs up in gratitude for her help, Owen took a firmer grip on DJ before maneuvering for the taller male to get on his back. DJ complied, now mumbling incoherent sentences about how he needed a cuddle now.

The blond chose to ignore him, and instead began making his way out of the lower decks to the top.

He reached a certain degree of complication when he made it to the stairs and during his struggle upward with DJ on his back, he found himself trying hard to ignore the rambling that DJ was now putting right into his ear.

"Owen, you are so cute. I love you."

Sighing as he kicked open the door for them to finally get outside on deck, Owen glanced back at the drowsy male, "I love you too, DJ."

"Good, because I'd be sad if you didn't. I love Geoff too. Does Geoff love me?" His words were garbled and Owen had trouble understanding it for the most part.

With a shake to his head, he found himself grinning the moment he saw Geoff speaking to one of the crew leisurely.

Moving one of his hands from supporting DJ's leg, Owen cupped it over his mouth, "Geoff!" The blond shouted over to the blond that immediately paused from his conversation to look up in the way he had been called from.

The moment he saw Owen, Geoff returned the beam with a nod before he turned back to the male in front of him. Seemingly excusing himself from the talk, he bid the other good bye prior to walking toward both Owen and DJ.

Owen greeted the blond with an instant hug, a motion that made DJ grumble.

Snickering, Owen watched Geoff's eyes narrow in on the brunet haired pirate on his back, "Is he drunk?"

"He's tipsy." The former noble confirmed with a nod and Geoff groaned with a roll to his eyes, "I told him not to drink so much."

"I'm _not _tipsy."

"You can hardly walk without toppling over."Owen countered and DJ only plopped his head back down onto the blond's shoulder with a moan,

Taking the attention away from him, Owen smiled at Geoff expectantly, "How was Dublin?"

The question didn't appear to surprise Geoff in the slightest as the blond fitted his hands into his pockets with a blow of his breath. His brown eyes gazed off while he opened his mouth to reply, "Well, I guess you can say it wasn't what I expected with Courtney's attempted escape and all."

"What!?" DJ snarled out, his head rising up from Owen's shoulder furiously.

Instantly Owen's jaw dropped.

He remembered Duncan telling him that he was taking Courtney off of the ship with him after he had been kicked out the room when Duncan assaulted the princess.

"You're shitting me." Owen remarked in disbelief.

That had to be Geoff's idea of a joke because Courtney couldn't possibly have enough balls in her to try and escape when _Duncan _himself was there guiding her throughout Ireland.

"No, I am not." The First Mate of Ravenwood confirmed with a heavy sigh, "Apparently, when Duncan was speaking to Captain Mclean, Courtney made a run for it from the restroom… When Duncan found out, he came to me to help."

"That's fucking crazy! Oh my God, Courtney, that was a dumbass move!" Owen hissed out with a smack to his forehead. DJ's grip on the Irish native's shoulders tightened as he glared at Geoff angrily, "Did Duncan kill the little shit for trying to get away or what?"

Geoff scowled at DJ disapprovingly, "Well, I think Duncan would have done something he would have regretted if he had faced Courtney alone… I think he himself knew that, and that's why he came to me to help out. I told him to give Courtney a chance for a lighter punishment if I could make her see reason. And even after I tried talking to her, Courtney brushed me off and now she's Duncan's to deal with I guess." He held his hands up in defense, "I wanted to help."

Awkwardly, Owen bit his bottom lip, "So… What's going to happen to Courtney now?"

When Geoff shrugged his shoulders Owen found himself wincing. He didn't even want to imagine…

"Why do you two only care about Courtney?" DJ stubbornly inquired, "What about Duncan? Have either of you even thought about him over Courtney for once?"

Owen rolled his eyes as he looked back at the scowling pirate on his back, "I'd worry about Duncan if his life was in danger."

"Which is never." Geoff nodded his head in agreement, however that only made DJ's facial expression darken,

"Forget about how this affects any of them physically. Neither of you have considered how this must be hurting Duncan emotionally, have you?"

His words were greeted with silence from both Geoff and Owen who could only move their gazes from DJ to one another shamefully.

After a few moments, Geoff cleared his throat, "DJ, you're going to have a headache when you wake up tomorrow, I think you need to start getting some rest now."

"I'm _not _drunk."

"We know. You're tipsy." Owen instantly corrected as the three began walking back downstairs.

Courtney found her mind slowly stirring into consciousness from the still and black sleep she'd been placed in.

Before she even had a chance to fully rise and get her brain functioning properly, a sharp pain executed down below at her groin area that made her eyes snap open in pain, but to her shock, her sight was met with darkness.

Feeling an apparent fabric over her way of sight, Courtney prepared to move her hands to take off whatever blindfold was stopping her from seeing, but as she did so, she found her alarm growing even more. Her wrists were bound by what she assumed to be rope and they were pulled in a way that left her unable to use either of her hands. It was obvious by the material beneath her that she laying on a bed and Courtney couldn't help but squirm as she pulled at the ropes in hopes her hands would become free.

It was a fruitless effort and she wasn't too discouraged when she received no results.

Already knowing she'd have to think everything through properly before she started having a panic attack of this rather unusual situation, Courtney immediately tried to steady her breathing, in the process she found that another thick cloth-like material was pulled over her mouth and tied behind her head.

She had to think back—

Her train of thought was abruptly put to a halt as her breast was grabbed firmly along with a creak to the mattress where her feet were.

"Rise and shine, Princess."

All at once, Courtney found her brain reeling in all the events that had taken place before she had awoken.

Her escape. Her brief encounter with Geoff. Then her meeting with Duncan inside of the church.

Duncan had hopped off the stage and he had said things, but Courtney could hardly remember because as the captain approached her she could only recall the idea of impending death looming on her once again.

She'd tried to escape and now she was getting the aftermath.

Courtney couldn't even remember when Duncan knocked her out… But it made sense because at the time before the only thing on her mind had been the fact she was going to die.

"I hope you had a good rest." Duncan's voice hissed out, and despite how calm he sounded, Courtney could hear the malice undertones all too clearly. Duncan's thumb gave Courtney's breast nub a deep rub that made the princess wince. That one motion was enough to bring to Courtney's attention that she was completely naked.

Her heart began to speed up as she came to terms with her current situation.

Right now, she was strapped down to a bed naked, her eyes blindfolded, legs and hands restrained, and mouth gagged with Duncan practically hanging over her. Duncan, who was more than likely, still _pissed _at her for trying to get away.

Courtney wasn't sure how he was supposed to coop with this.

"Why are you making that face?" Ducan's hand gripped Courtney's breast tighter, and Courtney found her teeth clenching painfully, "The nervous look doesn't suit you." His voice was mocking, not in the usual way that Duncan tended to mock her.

As much as it pained Courtney to think of it, it was more morbid.

She tried to push pass the sinking feeling making its way to her stomach as she attempted to squirm out of Duncan's grip, her exposed and held breast still being held solidly by the pirate captain that Courtney could feel was now beginning to fully get onto the bed.

Before Courtney had any chance to prepare herself, Duncan's body was on top of hers like a lion pouncing on its prey. She tried to flinch away, but it was useless as Duncan's lips were aggressively at work at her bare collarbone.

His mouth sucked at it hard and Courtney found a lightning wave of pleasure shooting up her spine the instant both of Duncan's hands were at her breasts once more, however this time his hold wasn't uncomfortable, instead it was firm.

Duncan moved his head closer to Courtney's ear and the princess shivered at the feeling of the male's heated breath over his cold skin, "Listen if you don't want to make this harder on yourself." At this point, Courtney could feel Duncan's own erection bulging out of the male's own pants and pressing onto her own body, because from the feeling of it Duncan was still fully clothed.

"I'm going to fuck you so hard, Courtney Oxford. I'm going to take you without any mercy no matter how much it hurts you." Duncan gruffly whispered, "But the thing is, you aren't allowed to come. If you do, I can tell you now that this won't end well."

Courtney's fists clenched as she felt Duncan maneuver himself more properly over her before she was speaking up once more, "I'm going to fuck you so senseless, Oxoford."

Duncan's member slammed into her with so much force that Courtney's head gave a heavy bounce on the mattress. The action was so sudden and strong that the brunette struggled to recover from the violent thrust.

Within the cloth, she bit down hard, her throat holding back the moan that wouldn't have been able to leave her lips anyways from the aggressive and painfully pleasuring motions of Duncan's cock.

One of Duncan's hands came to touch Courtney's face as he continued his quick and powerful pulls in and out of Courtney. Still unable to see, Courtney could only helplessly look up, her body beginning to get warped up in strange mix of ecstasy and agony from the repeated slams that Duncan inflicted on her.

Courtney's hands clenched into fists so tightly overhead that she could feel her nails digging into her palms, no doubt close to breaking her roughening skin.

Duncan's motions remained in a set motion, one that made Courtney's body threaten to collapse.

A cold metal piece from Duncan's jacket grazed over her heated chest, and Courtney gave a shudder, her mouth muffling back her moans due to the gag placed on his face.

Her limit was nearly peaking and she withered into the mattress while Duncan continuously pounded into her.

"Don't you dare even think about it." Duncan snapped out angrily, instantly reminding the princess that she couldn't come.

Not if she wanted to be reminded of Duncan's anger on her.

At this point, for a split second she wished the gag was gone. SHe would have been able to talk some sort of sense into Duncan to inform him of how ridiculous this was. But Courntey's mind was already off from that just as quickly as it came to it.

Duncan's rhythmic thrusts were getting Courtney close to the edge now.

Helpless, Courtney squirmed into the mattress, unable to tell the pirate captain that she needed to let all go. Duncan apparently noticed her body movements and spoke, "You can't come yet." Duncan gruffly ordered, "No." With his final word he gave an extra hard push into Courtney that made the princess's toes curl and her eyes to shut with a moan into her gag.

She wished she could let Duncan see her eyes to know how much this was hurting her. She couldn't keep it in any longer—

"You're pathetic." Duncan hissed lowly, his thrusts were losing intensity and Courtney found her body beginning to quake. "You want to come? Okay, tell me."

Courtney found herself squinting at the sudden vision she was given as Duncan reached to pull up the blindfold from her eyes.

True to what she had felt before, Duncan had his clothes from earlier still on, his pirate hat included. He watched down at Courtney with narrowed eyes before he moved to lower the cloth that was within her mouth, "Who do you belong to, Courtney?"

Courtney's body shook painfully, her eyes darting away from Duncan's face that was lowering down closer to hers and the only thing that was on her mind was letting go of the load that was still in her body.

"Y-you." She managed to say coarsely after Duncan gave a quick thrust within her once more.

"Who am I?" Duncan immediately questioned, his voice loud after he slammed into Courtneys body once more, causing the royal to moan out properly for the first time, "F-fucking christ, Duncan, I can't—"

With darkening eyes, Duncan pounded his dick inside of Courtneyagain, his tone more forceful than before as though he were controlling his growing temper, "Who _am I?"_

"D-Duncan H-H-Hayes!" Courtney strained out. She didn't know if he could keep it in any longer.

"Say it all together now." The pirate captain of Ravenwood commanded, his voice nearly purring as he moved down to Courtney's ear, "Say it all together and you can come. Say it _loud_."

"I belong to Duncan Hayes!" Courtney exclaimed as loudly as her lungs could allow her, and at that moment, Duncan pulled out of her and Courtney instantly took this as permission to finally release what she'd been denied.

Her body trembled, eyes shut and fists clenched tightly as she came undone.

Panting, Courtney found her body relaxing on the bed breathlessly.

However, before she could even make a full recovery from the experience, her eyesight was cut off once more as Duncan slipped the blindfold over her eyes again.

"Hey!" Courtney tried to protest, her tone winded.

She almost expected Duncan to replace the gag into her mouth, but instead she found herself wincing as Duncan gave an unexpected thrust into her as before. This time, the thrusts in and out were faster in a way that Courtney was barely able to keep up with, and just as quickly as Duncan started Courtney could feel her body being filled warmly with the male's own liquid.

The sensation instantly bringing about a second tingle in Courtney's lower part that she prayed went unnoticed by Duncan as he pulled out of Courtney again, panting softly.

Courtney stayed there on her back, still trying to catch her breath as she listened and waited for Duncan's next move.

A part of her expected one of Duncan's cheeky comments. Another expected him to go on with a possessive comment aimed at how 'Courtney belonged to him' and if she ran away again, the consequences would be worse…

But she got nothing.

Just Duncan's huffs for a steady breath that eventually became silence.

Several moments into the silence, Courtney debated on if she should speak up, but before she could, Duncan was raising up from the bed.

Again, Courtney expected him to regard her in some way, say something to her like he normally would, but Duncan's footsteps only echoed in her ears toward the door where Courtney heard it open before closing as though Duncan had never even been in the room.

Confused, Courtney prepared to get up, but then it dawned upon her that she was still restrained to the bed. Eyebrows furrowing behind the blindfold, she pulled at the ropes with a grunt.

She had a feeling Duncan wasn't coming back any time soon.


	19. Chapter 19

Confirming Courtney's suspicions, Duncan never did come back inside of the room within a reasonable time limit.

She had somewhat expected it and when she turned out right, it didn't really effect her hard. Knowing Duncan, before Courtney went to bed, he'd probably come back in and taunt her and get the binds off of her limbs, and everything would be back to the way it was.

Part of her predicted Duncan to be back in a little bit after the ship left the docks of Ireland, which she assumed would be not too long later.

For some reason, when the ship actually started moving, Courtney could say she felt a piece of herself die away… Perhaps because that had been her one shot at freedom and it had been completely obliterated by Duncan's persistence?

The boat gave never ending rocks that normally would go unnoticed, but with her eyes still covered and her senses going upward in response, Courtney could feel herself getting seasick. But at that point, she wasn't sure if it was seasickness or just the pain of the fact that now she never going home again.

At that point, Duncan still hadn't come in.

Courtney had started pushing back in panic that told her Duncan was _actually _going to leave her stuck like the way she was for the night.

Duncan was crazy, but he already got his revenge, didn't he?

He wasn't going to leave Courtney like that.

With darkness as the only thing she could see, Courtney relied on her own instinct to determine what time it was and how much time had passed on earlier. Even with that, when she started to grow lightheaded with fatigue, she knew it was late outside.

The rational part of her spoke.

Duncan wasn't going to come back.

The royal accepted the fact with bitterness… But one thing she couldn't seem to get entirely was how she was supposed to _sleep _the way she was.

She was still naked and dirty. Her own skin felt disgusting and her arm had seemingly decided it was a good time to remind Courtney that it was still sore and it began aching her for the whole night.

Courtney pushed it all back.

She was strong and this was probably Duncan's way of making her suffer. SHe could endure it for one night.

After a completely restless night, when Courtney woke up it felt as though she hardly got any sleep. It got worse when she realized the blindfold was still there, she was still restrained, and her arm still throbbed in light pain.

Duncan didn't come back at all and Courtney spent the whole day just lying in bed, helpless to do anything.

She was hungry and combined with the sensitivity to the nausea-inducing boat rocks; her stomach was beginning to bother her.

When her body began to signal it was growing sleepy for the night once more, Courtney found a part of her hoping that Duncan would be back to let her go in the morning.

Her hope was firmly crushed by daybreak when she woke up again to the same familiar darkness and frightening silence of the room. She knew she couldn't possibly be dead because of the consistent movements of Ravenwood she felt. Courtney's stomach growled continuously and she tried to forget her hungry by drifting her attention to something else…

Courtney thought of home. She thought of how it would be back in the palace once again. The light daydreams kept her sanity firm even if it was bittersweet when she managed to come back in touch with reality.

A part of her had a feeling that Duncan would have been back by the next morning…

That fraction of her couldn't have been any more wrong. Courtney had woken up with no significant difference in her except now the grumbles in her stomach was more like a deprived pain and her throat was now beginning to go to a rather irritating dryness.

When it felt like the day was taking forever to roll by and there was no sign of life entering the room, Courtney found herself beginning to panic. Duncan wasn't honestly thinking of keeping her in here for so long was he?

Three days without human contact and being in such an uncomfortable position would drive her _mad_. Not to mention, she could feel this throat literally about to crack from the lack of water. This was crazy.

She contemplated screaming for help, because it was obvious Duncan wasn't going to come in for her, but if she was lucky someone like Geoff or Owen would… But when she thought that over, it was foolish to think that. Geoff wouldn't help him. Not only that, Geoff more than likely already told Owen about the situation, and Owen probably pitied Courtney for her decision.

She was alone with this.

Duncan was really putting her through this…

And sad part would have been that Courtney could imagine Duncan literally just leaving her to rot.

This was a part of Duncna's punishment, obviously.

Was it death or an effort to break her was what had Courtney a bit on the frantic side.

How humiliating. Of all the ends, she'd die tied to the bed of a criminal's bed, naked, and dirty. It was pathetic.

After she attempted to calm her breathing and just relax, Courtney tried to focus on keeping her thoughts strong because if she was going to die there like that, she'd make sure Duncan knew she wouldn't be broken so easily.

She refused to be degraded by this no matter the outcome.

That night she went to bed feeling sorer than she ever had, not that it had surprised her.

Waking up the next morning was bleak. Nothing changed. She was still cold and alone. Even her thoughts of reuniting with her family left a bitter taste in her mouth, which was incredibly depressing considering the fact that this was going to be her fourth night without water.

Her teacher once told her a human can only go so many days without water before the long winded death by dehydration took over… And from what Courtney remembered, the process _wasn't _pretty.

This was all she was getting for trying to escape.

If she had waited, maybe another opportunity would have arisen… If she hadn't gone straight to the Cathedral, maybe if she had gone the next day when Duncan would have _left _Ireland she wouldn't be here.

So many what ifs…

And now, Courtney suddenly found herself fit into a déjà vu situation with her first time being on the ship when she was almost positive she was going to die. Back then, she had prayed that the pirate captain not come to her room any time soon so she could live.

Ironically, now all she _wanted _was for the pirate to come to his room so she could live.

Fate had a morbid sense of humor.

The sound of the door opening literally made Courtney jump in surprise from her spot within the bed. Creaking loudly to her ears, the royal felt her eyes widen beneath her blindfold as her breathing instantly hitched.

Courtney's heart and eyes dulled considerably with relief the moment she heard the familiar noise of those black pirate boots stepping along the wooden boards of the room away from the door and toward the bed. Silently, Courtney licked her dry lips, her mouth practically cracking itself, a fact she found rather sad.

At least now with Duncan back, everything could just get better.

"Tell me," Duncan's voice solemnly broke the four-day long silence that had plagued the room and for once, Courtney found a part of her entirely grateful to hear the pirate captain's voice especially after so long. She knew she wanted to do nothing but curse and scream at Duncan for _really _leaving her in that situation, but she had to be smart about this.

Duncan's steps stopped by where Courtney assumed to be right in front of the bed. "How does it feel to be abandoned?"

His tone wasn't mocking in the least… In fact it was quite serious to the point where Courtney's eyebrows nearly furrowed in confusion, but she brushed it off… Duncan had _four _days to cool off. He couldn't possibly still be mad—

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Courtney sarcastically retorted, her own voice almost seeming like a stranger to her with how hoarse it came out.

She needed water and fast.

Duncan appeared to disregard that, "I'll tell you a fun fact," Courtney nearly jolted at the feeling of Duncan's hand reaching downward to touch her right foot. The male's hands were rough but he worked quickly to untie the knot that kept that foot bound to the bed.

Courtney found instant relief as Duncan moved to the other foot, "You managed to run away from me for four hours." At the end of his words, Courtney' s left foot was free.

While Duncan began walking closer to her head, Courtney shivered when she felt the captain lean over her to reach for her right hand, "I don't tolerate treason."

With her right hand free, Courtney immediately lowered it with a breath of liberation. She turned back into Duncan's words curiously after the captain managed to undo her left hand's binds.

"I gave you what over double what you wanted. You wanted four hours away from me, that's fine with me. I just gave you four days away from me. I'm sure you're satisfied now."

As the pirate captain's words began to register in his head, Courtney found herself speechless.

Duncan hands made their way behind Courtney's head where he began to untie the blindfold.

Déjà vu struck her once more as she stared ahead at Duncan's young face; all those imperfections he had seen that one morning were practically nonexistent within the dimly lit room as he was dully watched back.

Neither broke eye contact before Duncan tsked, his cold blue eyes emotionlessly staring into Courtney's own black irises, "You have no answer for me? I assume you aren't satisfied. Perhaps you'd like another four days away?"

"No! No! I just…" After her sudden jerk upward, Courtney found her lungs contracting. Painfully, she doubled over, her hand flying to her mouth as she began to cough.

Duncan made no remark on that as she rose off of the bed, "Put some clothes on and then come to dinner." He commanded simply, not too sooner had he done so did Courtney hear the door opening and closing once again.

Her coughing fit finishing shortly after, Courtney groggily held her head which she could feel beginning to ache slightly. Her body trembled as she attempted to move toward the edge of the bed where she saw her old pirate clothes that Duncan had let her given the day she came here.

Slowly, she leaned down to pick it up, her body feeling weaker than she ever experienced.

She dressed herself, attempting to be as steady as she could seeing as her body was frailer than she thought it would be once she got free.

After stumbling on her feet for the first several steps toward the door, Courtney finally found balance in herself. Her whole walk on deck had to have been incredibly freeing because she got to smell fresh air for the first time in days.

The ship was still moving and it was dark out, the sky above was actually clear and the moon overhead served its purpose for a small source of light.

Courtney entered the dining room with as much poise as she could muster though she could only imagine how much she looked like shit.

Everyone seemingly turned to her and gave her regarding nods before going back to their own conversations.

Near the end of the table in their usual seats, Duncan was speaking to Geoff about something whereas everyone else was filed out next to him. Duncan halted his talk to glance over at Courtney when he came in stonily along with DJ, Beth, Bridgette, Geoff, and Owen.

Bridgette's expression immediately brightened up a great deal as she offered her a huge smile from under her hair.

Courtney felt her lips tug into a smile in return, though the silence from the normally loud bunch unsettled her a bit. She attempted to ignore the stares as she walked toward the rather serious looking pirate crew.

"Courtney!"

It seemed as though Owen was the only one who wasn't affected by the awkward atmosphere.

The blond Irishman disregarded the grave faces of those around him and waved excitedly at Owen, a grin plastered on his face before Dj grabbed his hand and slowly lowered it with a shake to his head. When Owen pouted, DJ moved over to whisper something in his ear that immediately made the male laugh and push the brunet haired pirate in the shoulder playfully.

Courtney ran a hand through her hair, her eyes scanning over the area swiftly.

To her surprise, there were no empty seats beside Duncan. Which was strange… Courtney _always _sat next to him. It was like Duncan always kept an extra seat reserved for her or something. But now… The only empty seat was next to Bridgette.

That was perfect since Courtney had to ask her for some bandages for her arm and get something for the cough she had.

She could feel Duncan's eyes following her as she walked down the aisle toward the end of the table. Not giving the pirate captain a glance, she pulled out the seat next to Bridgette with a smile the blond's way as she turned away from Beth with a happy beam.

Beth gave Courtney a half-smile.

"I'm glad you're okay." Bridgette mumbled lowly to her, her body moving towards her gradually.

Courtney weakly nodded, "Yeah, I am too. But hey, do you—"

"I advise you to get up right now."

Duncan's strong voice wavered over the entire dinner table and all conversations came to a stop as silence fell over the room abruptly.

Already knowing who it was directed to, Courtney bit her bottom lip, her head raising up to watch ahead at Duncan who was watching her boredly,

The Duncan Hayes that she had grown accustomed to was still gone and Captain Hayes that she absolutely _loathed _but had a rather strange interest in… Was still here.

"Excuse me?" Courtney questioned with a hand gesture toward her chest with an arched brow,

Duncan's arms folded over his chest, "Get up. You're not sitting there."

Courtney could feel the mass of eyes within the room turn toward her in order to see her rise. But even if Courtney literally _just _came out from a punishment from Duncan's fury that she was still feeling the effects of, she couldn't help but feel a large amount of irritation enter her.

This man _just _put her through hell. Why the hell was he still bothering her now!?

It was annoying!

Gritting her teeth, she glowered at him, "I don't see that the problem is. There are no more seats and…" Courtney slowed her words as from the corner of her eye she saw Geoff shaking his head, his expression clearly telling the royal to just stop.

Bridgette's hand touched hers, and Courtney gave her a quick glance.

"Drop it, Courtney… It's not worth it. Just go along." She whispered out with a frown.

Courtney's lips pursed in disbelief as she turned her eyes back to Duncan who sat with his eyes darkly watching Courtney for her next move.

Sighing heavily, Courtney picked up the glass from the table as she stood up. Gulping down the water as quickly as she could, she put the cup down before turning to Duncan expectantly, "There are no more seats so I don't know where you want me to go."

"I'll give you a choice." Duncan stated out simply, his index and middle finger rising upward amid the quiet within the room. "One, you can either pick to sit on my lap,"

Courtney's face cringed into that of disgust almost instantly and she had to catch herself from shouting out, 'No!'

"Or two, you can sit on the floor. Either option is open for you." Duncan shrugged as he lowered his hands plainly.

Unable to help herself, Courtney grunted, "May I ask why this seat isn't an option?"

Duncan tilted his head to the side, "You can ask, but I won't answer you. Now hurry up and take your pick for a seat or else I'll just assume you aren't hungry. Which I would find weird, I mean going so many nights without proper food would _really _take its toll on someone."

Clenching her fists, Courtney knew she was already treading in dangerous water especially with what just happened, but she had enough.

"You know what!? Fuck this! I'm not hungry! I can't deal with your shitty pompous, inconsiderate attitude and I'd rather starve to death than put up with it anymore! Okay, yeah, I tried to escape but can you fucking blame me?! Look at how you're treating me! I don't give a single damn if you're Prince of the Seven Seas and if I'm a 'game piece' to you! If this is the way I'll be treated as long as I'm on here, I'll just go jump overboard and end my suffering now!"

Whirling on her heel with an exasperated breath, Courtney proceeded to stomp out of the dining room.

Hearing her words instantly sent a shock up Bridgett's spine as she found herself rising to her feet at the same time as Duncan.

Eyes wide, she turned to look at the pirate captain who had his eyes staring off in the direction Courtney had just exited.

"Courtney!" Duncan shouted after her, preparing to walk out, but before he could Courtney's hand was grabbing his arm.

"Owen, go make sure she doesn't do something crazy." Geoff quickly instructed to the blond that hopped out of his seat and was rushing to the door. Bridgette bit her bottom lip as she gave Geoff an urgent look, "Don't worry; she won't!" She nodded to the blond that already had his attention on the feather haired pirate that was attempting to shrug off his hold,

"Let go of me right now, Geoff." The pirate captain commanded sternly, his eyes still on the door as Bridgette and Beth found themselves rushing out. Before they left, they could hear Geoff calling over DJ to help sit Duncan down to cool off first.

Bridgette glanced over at Beth as they walked out onto the open air of the deck.

The straight haired female gave her a concerned look, "She won't really try to jump—"

"No," Bridgette instantly answered, her eyes scanning around in the dark in search of the royal, "She was being overly dramatic. Courtney's too proud to commit like that…" She wisely informed before she smiled triumphantly at spotting both Owen and Courtney at the edge of the boat, farther down the ship's deck near the mass.

Taking Beth's hand more firmly in her own she began to jog toward them.

"Owen, no!" Courtney snapped to the blond right as both Bridgette and Beth bounded up to them. Courtney's eyebrows furrowed and she glanced in the direction they had come from in hopes Duncan wasn't coming. When she saw no sign of the taller male, she let out a tired sigh.

Owen frowned heavily, "Courtney—"

"I said, no!"

"What's the princess whining about now?" Beth dryly inquired toward her with a judging glance over her body.

Courtney scowled, "Mind your own damn business, Beth."

"Feisty."

"Can you fuck off?" Courtney groaned, her head falling into her hands after she leaned her elbows on the ledge to overlook the dark sea, "I'm fucking sick and tired of this! I'm sick and tired of all you damn pirates! I'm sick and tired of this damn ship! I'm sick and tired of everything! It isn't fucking fair!"

Bridgette folded her arms over her chest as she moved to stand beside the brunette, "Talk to me, Court…"

The princess's head hung, "I don't even want to do that. I feel so sick right now. My throat burns, my stomach feels like an elephant's been sitting on it for days, my arm hurts, and now I'm getting a headache. I really fucking hate everything right now."

"Duncan's punishment must have been harsh on you then…" Owen remarked, coming up to Courtney's other side.

Courtney scowled as she turned to glare at the Irishman, "Don't even bring up that little shit's name in front of me, okay!? I can't fucking stand him! It's his fucking fault that I'm here and—" Courtney halted her words, a thought striking her in the middle of her rant.

The tiny fact that it wasn't Duncan's fault she was here struck.

It was her family's fault.

"And… I just want to go home, alright? I don't want this. Any of this…" She longingly breathed out, her eyes lowering sullenly.

She felt like a caged bird. Nowhere to go but around the small confiding walls around her.

Owen gave her a comforting pat on the back, and Courtney couldn't even find it in her to give the male any positive sign of recognition. Even if Owen was only trying to help, it didn't ease any of the pain of troubles that were finally toppling over her.

Even Bridgette couldn't seem to find any sort of words for her.

"Um, no offense, but you sound really pathetic right now." Beth boldly spoke up, causing Courtney, Bridgette, and Owen to turn and face her.

The female had her arms crossed over her chest with a challenging brow upward, "You think you have it hard? I'm sorry to burst your bubble, Princess but _no_." She held up a finger and shook her head, "First of all, I know you want to go home but I hope you're willing to go _without _Bridgette."

Courtney's eyebrows furrowed in questioning to that, but before she could remark, Bridgette pitched in with a nervous laugh, "Yeah, I'm sorry Courtney but…"

Courtney smacked her forehead, "_Bridgette_, I can't—"

"Get real, Oxford." Beth interrupted, "You _aren't _getting off of this ship. Get the idea of it out of your head now to make things easier on you later. I'm not trying to be mean and I'm sure as hell not trying to be nice, but if you kept your eyes opened like Bridgette has and Owen had when he was new to all the crazy shit that happens that you have no control over, I'm positive you'd be fitting into Ravenwood as easy as Geoff's dick fits into Birdgette's arsehole."

"Hey!"

"Okay, so maybe Geoff's dick doesn't fit that easy in there, but you get my point." Beth shrugged, her tongue sticking out at Bridgette briefly as she pursed her lips in disapproval, "Anyways, my word of advice to you, _stop _being upset at _everything_. Be _happy _you're alive. And just _go _with the flow even if the current is a little rough. If you keep up with your mentality of 'Oh my god, I miss my wondrous castle with my pony horses and fancy designer dresses and make up!' you're going to be killed by Duncan one day. He's literally been on the fucking edge for the last few days and for you to just speak up like that, if Geoff didn't hold him back I don't know what would have happened to you honestly."

Beth slipped her hands into her pockets while tilting on her heels.

Owen watched her in amazement, "Okay, that's a _way _better pep-talk than what I was going to tell her."

Curiously, Bridgette watched him, "What were you going to say?"

"Eat and you'll feel better."

"Owen."

"What!? It works for me!" He held his hands up in defensive prior to Courtney letting out a massive breath; her eyes glancing off ward awkwardly, "Okay, so at this point I'm guessing my life as a captive is permanent…"

Owen shook the royal's shoulder, "Which is good! More time for you to spend having fun with DJ, Geoff and I!"

The sole female pirate's face grimaced, "I can't be the only one thinking that in a dirty way."

Ignoring her, Courtney sighed, "Alright. I'll try to take your advice, Beth… Thanks."

The brunette flashed a thumbs up as Bridgette smiled hugely, "Beth's a genius! I'm glad you're feeling better Court! Just keep your chin up! Also, come to my room any time and I'll work on something for your pain, okay?"

"So now… Only one thing is left." owen remarked, his hand slipping over Courtney's shoulder before he began walking back in the direction of the dining room with a grin. "You and Duncan need to kiss and make up!"

Courtney found her face cringing slightly, "I don't think I want to go back in there right now…"

Owen snickered, "It'll be fine. I'm sure DJ and Geoff calmed him down."

"Owen?"

"Yeah?"

"Beth said he was going to _kill _me."

"Nah, I'm sure he won't." Owen reassured simply, his steps not faltering as Courtney allowed herself to be led in the direction of the dining room once more.

When they entered, Courtney couldn't say she was surprised to see the room basically empty aside from Duncan, Geoff, and DJ, all three near Duncan's seat where the pirate captain sat with his arms crossed over his chest, a huge child-like pout over his face as DJ and Geoff stood at both of his sides like what appeared to be scolding parents.

The sight was nearly laughable to be honest.

The facial expression that Duncan wore reminded Courtney of the old Duncan she was used to.

Hearing the door open, the three turned to look upward and the moment Courtney made eye contact with Duncan she found herself grunting when the male's eyes flashed with a rather undetectable emotion.

"Courtney is here! Geoff, DJ, come on! Let them kiss and make up!" Owen exclaimed after pushing Courtney forward into the room, he grabbed both Geoff and DJ's hands before nodding at Courtney confidently.

"Slow down, Owen!" DJ hissed out, he didn't spare Courtney a single glance as Owen pulled him out, however Geoff did gaze over at her and shot her a reassuring smile that somewhat gave the impending sense of doom in Courtney's stomach some wash away.

Taking a breath, Courtney turned her attention toward Duncan as self-assured as he could.

She tried not to think that this man was on the brink of killing her earlier.

She tried not to think that Beth may have been right in saying Duncan would have done something regrettable to her.

She tried to remember him as the Duncan from before.

The annoying, asshole one…

The one she actually missed right now.

Because now, it actually struck Courtney that she was stuck in a room with a ruthless killer.

"Don't even bother saying anything." Duncan stoically stated as he stood to his feet, all traces of that child-like demeanor gone from his facial expression while his more serious and matured look came into place. He began walking toward the door where Courtney stood,

"Not even an 'I'm sorry'?" Courtney dryly tried out, her hand extending outward to stop Duncan's movements toward the exit.

His feet stopped and his eyes glazed over Courtney before he snorted, "You'd be wasting your breath and wasting my time. We both know you're not sorry."

"Duncan—"

"If I remember right, we had this conversation before. About lies and how I don't want you to do it to me?" Duncan inquired, "I don't feel like having it again. So move your arm."

Firmly, Courtney shook his head, "Just hear me out first."

"_No_. I'm fucking tired of you thinking you can just wink your eyelashes at me and suddenly everything's okay. Now move your arm." He hissed out impatiently and without warning, Duncan grabbed Courtney's arm and aggressively shoved it out of his way. All at once, Courtney found a splitting pain erupting in her limb.

Hissing in pain, she instantly brought the arm to her chest and clenched her fist over the one area in particular that seemed to be burning excessively,

"Ugh! Ah, fuck! What's wrong!?" Duncan questioned, his tone urgent as he brought Courtney closer.

"My arm! Ow! Don't touch it!"

Duncan clicked his tongue as he pulled out one of the chairs from the table and maneuvered for the royal to take a seat, "I didn't hit you that hard… So how the hell is it hurting that bad?" He muttered out with furrowed eyebrows as he steadfastly held Courtney by her forearm.

"Yeah, I know you didn't." Courtney remarked blandly, "It was hurt from earlier…" She admitted lowly, not willing to bring up the topic of her escape.

"Take off your shirt."

Courtney felt her eyes widen as she backed up in her seat, "I'd prefer if you just got Bridgette for the job."

Rolling his eyes, Duncan grunted, "Take it off so I can properly see your arm. You're wearing sleeves. But if you're so uncomfortable about this, whatever. I'll just get Miss Carson in here to fix you up… Like you said, I didn't do it so it's not my problem."

As the pirate captain pulled away, Courtney found herself squinting, "Wait, Duncan, I—"

"I don't want to hear it." Duncan repeated right before he exited out the room, leaving Courtney to sigh into her free hand heavily.


	20. Chapter 20

"Okay, so just drink some of this first." Bridgette insisted as she motioned over the cup of purple liquid Courtney's way, she pushed some of her hair over her shoulder while she continued searching through the large trunk of medical supplies that lay on the floor between her feet.

Courtney accepted the cup with a purse to her lips. Her eyes glanced down at the fluid in disgust. Unable to stop herself, she watched down at her friend, "What exactly is 'this'?" She questioned with a cringe to her face.

After she managed to leave the dining room, she'd gone straight to Bridgette's room to see if she could help her with the pain she was obviously experiencing with her arm, not to mention the queasiness in her stomach had yet to vanish.

Beth leaned on the wall watching on with clear amusement at Courtney's distress and the royal couldn't even verbally attack because of the fact Bridgette would stop her.

"You're coming down with something and it should not only help ease the pain on your arm, but also try to fight back whatever virus is coming on you." She informed simply, her hands still rummaging in the large trunk.

With a cheeky grin, Beth watched Courtney inspect the drink, "I won't get over the fact that you landed on your arm from your fall though. Haha. I guess fate has a funny way of working?"

Snapping her attention from the cup to the brunette, Courtney glowered at her in irritation, "Can you go away?"

Smirking deviously, she shook her head, "Afraid not."

"Come on guys." Bridgette sighed while she began rising up, within her grasp was a large roll of surgical bandages, "Alright, Court just drink that and I'll wrap this on your arm."

Courtney pouted childishly to see if she could get an alternative to drinking the medicine, but Bridgette shook her head firmly causing her to groan loudly before putting the cup to her lips and gulping it down.

As the rather bitter fluid rushed down her throat, Courtney came to realize exactly how dry her throat was. She had been feeling fatigue the whole time he'd been walking down to the lower deck to the room and she still hadn't eaten anything. Her body was notably weaker and she damned the fact that she hadn't eaten anything.

After she finished the drink, she carelessly tossed the cup to ground and stumbled her feet to take a seat on the bed beside Bridgette.

Apparently not taking notice to her strange steps, Bridgette held her hands out for Courtney to extend out her left arm before she pulled out a long length of the bandages.

Courtney watched silently as Bridgette sighing softly and began to wrap it from the curve of her shoulder,

"This may seem random, but do either of you have a clue how I can get back on Duncan's good graces?" She muttered out with furrowed eyebrows.

Bridgette's hands visibly paused in apparent surprise and when Courtney raised her head to meet with Bridgette's eyes, she frowned sadly, "I'm the last person you should ask about that."

Immediately, both of them turned to Beth who held a hand to her chin thoughtfully, "I take it that Owen's little 'Kiss and make up' plan didn't succeed then."

"No, it really didn't." Courtney blandly remarked with a sigh.

The brunette pirate tilted her head to the side, her eyes thoughtful, "I'm not the closest person to Captain Hayes on the ship, but I can tell you that getting on his good graces when you were on there to be begin with should be easy." Her gaze moved to Courtney, "You should try apologizing. If you take the blame, even if it isn't all yours, he should be all over you like Brady is to me."

Bridgette instantly perked up, a smile coming to her face at the proposal, "Yeah! That seems good!" She averted her attention to Courtney, "Courtney, I'm sure if you just act nice and polite Captain Hayes will just forget all about your escape attempt and everything will be okay for you."

Courtney groaned, "I tried apologizing and it didn't work. So that's out of the window."

"Whoa, really?" Beth questioned in disbelief, causing Courtney to scowl and nod her head in confirmation. Beth blinked her eyes in surprise, "Well damn! If _you _apologized and acted all sweet to him and he didn't forgive you, I dare to say our dear captain is finally coming back."

"What do you mean?" The royal asked in confusion.

The female pirate shrugged, "The little pussy that you've been dealing with and has been putting up with your incompetent bullshit is leaving and the _real _Prince of the Seven Seas is coming back. Not to discourage you or anything, but you've talked back to Captain Hayes so much within your time here and he's never done anything aside from tease you. Before you were on board, if any of us talked out of line he'd tie us to the ship's mass for a whole day." Her lips pursed at the thought,

"Your escape must have triggered something in that man's head. For those four days you were gone in punishment, he was pretty unstable and on the brink of snapping. With you back now, I'd say he's just back to being good 'ole Captain Hayes… Which can be considered good and bad, I guess?"

Courtney ran a hand through her hair, her eyes moving back to Bridgette as she urged Bridgette to continue wrapping her arm. Bridgette caught the look and she went on, though she regarded Beth curiously, "Alright, so if he's back to how he was before, is there any other way for Courtney and him to at least be on good terms?"

Once more, the female's hand went to her chin, "Well, you can always try seducing him."

Bridgette's eyes grew wide and Courtney watched Beth as though she were mad.

"What." It didn't even come out as a question.

Beth swung one of her legs, her hands coming up while she shrugged her shoulders, "If I were in his shoes, honestly, if you came up to me all offering your body and stuff, I'd give in. I mean, if you fucked me right then all would be forgiven."

"_Beth_."

"It's not just me!" She quickly stressed as she threw Courtney a defensive look. "Tyler and Lindsay do it all the time whenever they get mad at each other! I'm sure Duncan is just the same!"

That was ridiculous.

Courtney could only imagine the scene in her head with utmost failure.

It was one thing for her to suck up her pride and admit herself as wrong for things that weren't even entirely her fault… It was _another _thing for her to go shoving herself onto Duncan naked and fucking him for forgiveness.

Not only that, if Duncan took it the wrong way, Courtney could end up deepening the growing hole she was already in.

As Bridgette finished the bandages and now started tying a knot to it, she shook her head before speaking, "If you ask me, the seducing thing is really something you should do if you're super desperate because when I think of it, it doesn't end too well on your part Courtney."

She glanced upward and the two locked eyes. Smiling, she inclined her head to the side a bit, "Just be sweet. Treat him like you'd treat me. Everyone says he liked you before and I think he did too. It's impossible for 'like' to just disappear so soon and if anything, he's not mad at you exactly. He's probably just hurt and this is his way of showing it."

Bewildered at her words, Courtney leaned closer, "Hurt? How would _he _be hurt?"

"I don't know. I heard from Geoff that he made you promise not to leave him but you left anyways? He probably trusted you."

Courtney let this new found perspective sink in.

She forgot that she had promised Duncan she wouldn't leave.

It was groggy and if she even remembered right, Duncan had made her promise it in such a quick moment. Courtney had been too busy recovering from the sex too fully think of it and afterwards, she'd been too excited on the idea of heading into the city.

Couple that in with the fact Duncan already told her from before he hated liars and suddenly Courtney had a vague idea of what was rolling inside of the pirate captain's brain.

Groaning, Courtney smacked her forehead with her right hand, "Now that I know what's bothering him the most, I need to somehow miraculously solve it—"

With a powerful and loud '_thud' _the door to the room was suddenly swung open with amazing force as it slammed against the wall behind it.

All three occupants within the room turned to the entrance in surprise as DJ stood at the doorway, his dark eyes livid as they instantly zeroed in on Courtney.

Before the royal had a chance to react, DJ was upon her. The pirate grabbed a fistful of the royal's shirt front and yanked her upward to her feet. Not prepared for the sudden and violent movements, Courtney was powerless to stop the brunet haired male as he slammed Courtney's back against the wall seemingly effortlessly. Courtney bit her tongue, not wanting to scream in pain. To be fairly honest, the royal was slightly terrified of DJ at the moment.

Bridgette let out a scream and Courtney finally found a grip on reality as she struggled to remove DJ's offending hand while she was pinned to the wall.

"What the fuck is your problem!?" Courtney snarled out angrily, her irises glaring into DJ's as the offensive pirate sneered at her just as furiously,

"I'm tired of your fucking bullshit!" DJ replied back just as loudly.

Courtney grunted, "I—"

"You're fucking disgusting, okay!? I'm tired of you and your shitty ass existence! You're just like your fucking father and all the fucking royals that have taken to the throne for the past several generations! You only care about yourself! You're such a son of a bitch!"

Wordlessly, Courtney could only watch as DJ continued his rant,

"Duncan's breaking from the inside out and he refuses to let any of us— no, he refuses to let _me _near him! It's all your fucking fault! But you don't care." DJ seethed out darkly, "You don't care about anyone but yourself." His grip on Courtney's shirt clearly tightened and Courtney found herself tensing as DJlowered his head, "I fucking warned you to _not _mess with my mate's heart."

Courtney scowled as she watched it calmly, "DJ, you need calm down and hear me out."

"Why the fuck should I do that when you never did it for Duncan?"

"Okay, now I know I clearly did something to throw Duncan off, but—"

DJ rose his head upward, his brown eyes regarding Courtney menacingly, "You royals are good at making excuses to cover your own asses. It may have worked on Duncan, but it's not working on me, Princess."

"DJ, that's enough!" Bridgette exclaimed loudly, from behind DJ's head Courtney was able to see her standing to her feet now, panic now on her features as she watched the scene in pure concern.

The pirate grunted, he hardly turned to acknowledge her with a scoff, "The fact you have Bridgette brainwashed is another thing that makes me mad. She's defending you in a battle she has no business in this whatsoever."

Courtney's eyes dulled as she leered at DJ plainly, "So defending Duncan in a battle that doesn't concern you is suddenly better!? Think over what you say before it comes out your damn mouth! If you'd just shut the hell up and let me fucking talk, you'd know that I actually have something to input that would make you take your fucking hands off of me!" Her right hand moved to touch over DJ's hand that still clutched her shirt front roughly.

"When it has to do with _my _captain then the battle does concern me." With his words, Courtney found herself tensing up as DJ's fist raised upward overhead.

sHe hadn't really thought of this rising into a physical fight, but now it was imminent.

But then, without warning, DJ was suddenly yanked backward by his right shoulder violently.

Clearly not expecting the attack, the male was sent two steps backward, his grip on Courtney released immediately and Courtney blinked a few times as she watched Beth standing behind the male pirate, her eyes entirely annoyed.

"Alright, you got your two seconds of 'masculinity' now will you please drop your caveman mentality and get back to planet Earth?" She irritably questioned.

DJ leered at her in annoyance, "Mind your own damn business, Beth."

"I probably would have if you didn't do two things." She held up two fingers with a glare returned his way, "One, try to punch her in the face when you don't even let her talk for at least one fucking second, and two, tried to hurt my friend."

She took a step back and extended her arms outward, "If you're fighting anyone here, it'll be _me_. But I'm letting you know now, if you would have shut up for a good minute or so, you'd know that Her Highness is _sorry _for what she did and she planned on making it up to _our _captain before you stormed in here all crazy."

DJ paused, his facial expression contorting up in obvious confliction as he turned his head away from Beth to look at Courtney questioningly.

The princess was fixing the front of her shirt with a scowl on her face while her eyes watched over DJ in irritation, "Yeah, she's kinda right."

"And now, I'm the asshole." DJ sighed heavily with a loud groan.

Beth snorted, her back leaning against the wall once more, "You were always the asshole. Nothing's changed."

He shot her a warning glower that she returned.

Sighing heavily, DJ folded his arms over his chest and awkwardly gazed at Courtney, "Sorry 'bout that… I just…" He rubbed the back of his neck with his eyes shamefully glancing away, "I get real protective when someone's messing with my mates, alright?"

Courtney nodded slowly, "Yeah, I can see that. No harm no foul, I guess. I don't feel like having two people on this ship out to get me so we'll just go on with life and pretend you never went avenging angel on me over Harry's feelings." She ran a tired hand through her hair.

Attempting to break the tense atmosphere, Bridgette said, "Before you came in we were talking about ways for Captain Hayes and Courtney to get back to how they were before, because apparently, the Captain isn't exactly the friendliest right now toward Court." She briefly explained with a nod the female's way.

DJ took in the information with an understanding expression, "It's kind of hard to _not _notice his change in attitude." He blew out a huff of air, "That explains part of my aggression, which I apologize for again, Courtney."

"I accept your apology again, DJ. But on another note, with his change in attitude, you're close to the guy… What's there to do that will make his attitude change back?" Courtney inquired seriously, her tone visibly taking DJ by slight surprise.

Taking a few seconds, DJ's arms folded over his chest once more as his expression went off into that of thought.

The other three within the room all watched him expectantly. DJ's eyes trailed over to Courtney where the royal found herself stiffening as the pirate's eyes evaluated over her body skeptically before it appeared as though an idea sprung over his head like a flash of lightning.

DJ turned toward Courtney expectantly before he beckoned her over while approaching the door, "Come on, Princess. I have an idea."

"Let's hope it's a good one." Courtney snorted as she began walking toward the brunet haired male; she glanced back at Bridgette and Beth prior to giving them both a quick wave and following DJ out into the halls.

Her steps were still slow and the moment she tried to jog ahead, she felt her lungs clench on her painfully. Pushing back the feel she came into step with DJ as the two began going up the stairs to exit out on deck.

When DJ opened the door and the two were now out on the open deck.

Silently, Courtney kept behind the pirate, waiting for him to stop and explain what the plan was.

DJ halted his steps near one of the ship's masses and Courtney curiously watched as the male turned to face her with a grin, "Now we begin the plan."

"Right. So what is it?" Courtney asked brightly.

Without a word, DJ's hand was out to Courtney's bandaged arm. A bit puzzled, Courtney allowed him to hold up the sensitive limb and she could only gaze on in growing confusion as the pirate began to unravel the bandages.

"DJ—"

"Trust me."

"Can you just tell me what I'm trusting you on?"

The pirate blinked, his posture straightening up, "You're really honest about this? Apologizing? You aren't playing with him again, are you?" He seriously questioned, ignoring Courtney's earlier words.

Courtney's eyebrows creased and she gazed back into DJ's eyes solemnly,

He gave a single nod, "I'm honest."

"Good. I'm sorry about the pain now, but you can thank me later."

"Wait, what do you mean—"

DJ's arm came crashing down at the center point in her left arm with a surprising amount of force that instantly sent an extreme row of pain shooting out Courtney's body.

A shout of agony rippled out of her mouth as she pulled her left arm closer to her chest, the motion created another wave of pain from her arm to the rest of her and she couldn't help but let out another hiss of pain from her lips.

Then, without any degree of warning, DJ suddenly had her shoulders beneath his hands and was shoving Courtney down to the floor. The royal couldn't properly keep her balance in between the pain she was experiencing from her throbbing arm and the fatigue from earlier so she toppled to the floor easily.

Unable to think straight from the pain, Courtney couldn't question why the hell DJ would do something so crazy, but she was able to hear the pirate scream out,

"Duncan! Duncan! Someone!"

His tone sounded entirely distressed and the princess could only groan in pain as she held her arm, glaring up at DJ through her hair, "DJ, you—"

"What the fuck happened!?"

Courtney found her speech coming to an immediate halt the moment she heard Owen's voice within such close proximity.

She watched DJ wave over before he kneeled down beside her on the floor, "Guys! It's Courtney! I came out here after I heard her scream! I think something's wrong with her arm!"

It was way faster than Courtney ever thought possible, faster than she thought could ever _be _possible, but Duncan was suddenly kneeling at her side.

That was fucking fast.

The pirate captain grabbed at her left arm firmly, and Courtney winced in pain from the male's hold. "What happened?" Duncan glanced over at DJ seriously.

DJ ran a hand through his hair breathlessly, "I don't know, mate. I was coming out from the dining room and then I hear her scream so I ran over and saw her on the floor."

Courtney could only watched DJ in pure disbelief.

She seriously just lied to Duncan's face.

Duncan grunted as he moved his attention down to Courtney with a scowl, "What the hell are you even doing up here? I told you to go to Bridgette, you little idiot." He muttered out while seemingly inspecting Courtney's left arm.

"You're _not _a doctor. Stop looking at my arm like you'll magically know what's wrong with it." Courtney weakly remarked, causing Duncan's eyes to narrow.

"Guys, what's wrong?" Geoff questioned as both he and Owen finally rounded over to the scene.

DJ coughed into his hand, "Courtney had a fall out and her arm is hurting real bad."

Both pirates' faces instantly cringed in concern and worry as he leaned down beside her, "Whoa! Courtney, didn't Bridgette say to go to her for help with that?" Owen quickly inquired as he reached out to comfort the royal, but before he could, Duncan slapped his arm away with dark eyes.

"Get Bridgette here now to help her."

Owen held up his hands defensively, "Sorry and I'll be right on it, Captain!"

As Owen got up and began sprinting to the staircase to the lower deck, DJ coughed once more, "Bridgette can't diagnose her out here. You should take her into your room, Duncan."

Duncan silently watched the brunet haired male and Courtney suddenly found DJ's plan clicking into her head.

Sneaky bastard.

"Can you stand?" Duncan questioned while bringing his arm beneath Courtney's head to help her sit upward. Courtney tried to fit the role of a sickly person as best as she could as she shakily allowed Duncan's hands to guide her to her feet.

When Geoff prepared to follow after the two to Duncan's quarters, DJ stuck out his hand that held Courtney's bandages with a smirk, "Geoff and I will help get Owen get Bridgette there faster!"

"Wait, what?" Geoff inquired in confusion as he watched DJ's face mischievously grin in triumphant.

Knowing something clearly happened he groaned, "DJ… What did you just _do_?"

DJ folded his arms over his chest, "The best thing this ship ever could have wanted. But hey, you know, no biggie."

With Duncan supporting Courtney's right arm over his shoulder, Courtney tried to put off as much deadweight as she possibly could to keep the idea of her being weakened up.

When they entered the study room, Courtney felt the urge to say something to the pirate captain, but she decided against it with the gut feeling she had, because if she screwed this up she'd be probably be fucked for a long time.

Opening the door to his bedroom, the feather haired male began moving the two of them toward the bed and as he did so, Courtney found her eyes widening in surprise at the several plates of food and large bottle of water near the bedside.

Duncan positioned her to sit and gave a sigh as he dropped off his coat to the floor,

"You're so troublesome, I swear." He muttered out with furrowed brows, he took his shirt off and Courtney watched with uncertainty as Duncan began to wrap the top around her left arm quickly and neatly.

Courtney nodded, "Yeah… Thank you…"

"It's nothing. I'm kind of curious as to what the hell happened to your arm to make it such a problem in the first place." Duncan truthfully stated while he bent down to pick up his fallen overcoat.

Knowing it was better left unsaid; Courtney coughed into her hand, her lungs feeling a bit worn out, "Why do you have so much food in here?" She questioned out in a light effort to change the subject.

Duncan's mouth opened slightly before he cringed and looked away, "It was for you when you were coming to bed later tonight."

Courtney froze in shock as Duncan awkwardly moved to take a seat on the other side of the bed.

"Oh. Well, thanks, I guess." She lowly stated.

Duncan actually went out of his way to do that for her? Even when he was supposedly still angry at her?

Suddenly the air in the room was much thicker and Courtney found herself speechless.

But she needed to apologize to Duncan… Even if she didn't want to and it appeared Duncan wasn't upset with her anymore, she had to.

She'd be damned if she spent the last bit of her life worrying over crossing paths with the captain of the ship that seemed to love walking along the same path with her.

"I'm sorry."

Courtney's ears perked up the instant the words broke through the delicate silence held within the area between the two. She didn't dare look up and over at Duncan as the unbelievable words floating throughout her ears.

Wait.

He didn't just say—

"I'm sorry for everything, Courtney. I really am."

His tone was flat and serious, but for some reason, even if Courtney couldn't see his face, she had the biggest feeling in her heart that Duncan's expression was of the utmost sullen.

Perhaps she was wrong and Duncan looked as neutral and stoic as he normally did. Perhaps… But the expression of the male's heartbroken face remained etched into her mind.

The two sat there in silence as Courtney sat there, prepared to hear more, but when it became apparent that Duncan wouldn't continue, Courtney spoke up,

"It's alright. I'm sorry too… For trying to escape."

The words came out her mouth with mixed emotions. Part of her knew it was okay, Duncan Hayes was apologizing to her and she knew that wasn't exactly an everyday occurrence… But the other part of her knew that it was lie.

It wasn't exactly alright. After everything… It wasn't.

But the part of her that knew it was okay was louder than the other for some strange reason.

Why?

Duncan had done nothing to her to deserve the benefit over the doubt.

She was an over controlling, egotistical bastard that… That was created by her family's name.

It was hard to remember that Duncan was only 19.

He was still _young_. He was young and had so much blood split on his hands. He was young and had so much happen in a few years than Courtney could ever experience in a lifetime.

Courtney kept her eyes down silently,

She wondered, how many people had ever been with the Prince of the Seven Seas in his most vulnerable time?

"I think it'd be best if we just started all over." Courtney sighed as she now turned to face Duncan's direction on the bed.

Duncan had apparently already been facing her way and was watching her plainly, "I don't know what you do in your fancy palace, but here in the real world, you don't just 'start all over'. It's never that easy. Once something's done, you can't undo it."

His morbid way of speaking made Courtney grimace, "Then what exactly is going to happen between the two of us?"

"We move on." Duncan answered simply with a tilt to his head.

Courtney blinked her eyes as Duncan began crawling on the bed toward on her, on his fours and shirtless, Courtney found a bit of anxiety enter her as Duncan's eyes locked with her,

The two stared into one another's eyes for a brief moment before Duncan let out a huge breath, his blue eyes closing tiredly,

"I fucking hate what you do to me."

"I… _What_?" Courtney questioned in confusion as Duncan shook his head and began moving to get off of the bed,

The pirate captain exhaled loudly, "Just eat and drink and don't die on me tonight. Good night." He quickly commanded before exiting.

As the door closed, Courtney found herself thinking everything.

Everyone said that she meant something to Duncan…

Maybe they were right.


	21. Chapter 21

"Argh! Duncan!"

The words echoed throughout the dead silent room as Courtney's eyes snapped opened with a loud groan while she felt her tense body begin to relax on top of the mattress.

Panting heavily, Courtney took only two seconds to realize what just happened to her.

With her heart still racing unbelievably fast, she brought her right hand out from the covers beneath her to run over her face that was sweating out bullets at a speed swifter than what she'd like. Grunting as she sat up, she tried to adjust her legs that were beginning to gramp.

"Fuck…" She mumbled out, but just as she did she found her lungs squeezing within her chest painfully. Her hand moved to her mouth before she proceeded to cough repeatedly.

She was just glad she was alone in the room. If anyone had heard that, they'd know—

Courtney found her whole body going rigid the moment she turned her gaze toward the wall near the door.

Bridgette and Owen stood with their backs facing her, their hands over their ears as they just _stood _there.

They heard her.

"What the hell are you two doing in here!?" She managed to wheeze out, her body shook from her jerk to pull up the sheet to cover her cold body.

She didn't even remember taking off her over shirt last night. But that was the last thing on her mind.

Both Owen and Bridgette were in the room when she woke up from her dream after she _screamed _that. They both knew what happened, especially if they were so far away.

This was incredibly fucked up.

Owen slowly moved his hands from over his ears to face Courtney, his face had a nervous smile as he regarded the royal awkwardly, "Nice to see you're awake, Your Highness…"

"What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing. In. Here?" Courtney deadpanned, her eyes narrowing, "And exactly how much did you hear!?" Her teeth gritted and her right hand clenched the sheets in her grasps tightly. The feeling in her left arm was better than it had been before, and only a dull sore was on it, but Courtney didn't dare suddenly use it and cause the intense pain to come upon it again.

"Well—"

"I'm _so _sorry, Court!" Bridgette intervened; she turned around with her hands covering over her eyes, her cheeks indefinitely flushed into a deep red while she anxiously gave a small noise of embarrassment, "This is really embarrassing, I know! But I really hope you aren't mad! It's not our fault we're in here! You have a fever so Duncan told me to come in here while he was out to make sure I keep it down! When I came in, I didn't think you'd be… You know…"

Owen fitted his hands into his pockets with a whistle, "I came in some time after Bridgette if that helps at all?"

Courtney's rage and embarrassment heightened, and it wasn't even because of the fact that Bridgette and Owen _knew _she literally just had a sexual dream about Duncan, but it was probably from the fact that from Bridgette's words, it was safe to assume that Duncan had been in here from the start of her dream.

Her body was hot and Courtney found her mind lapsing back to the dream she had just awoken from.

It was hard to remember the details by now which was a good thing.

She couldn't believe this.

If Duncan heard her, she'd have to jump overboard.

With her head rested downward, Courtney grunted with a glare down at the sheets.

"Before I woke up… _Please _tell me it wasn't obvious…" She breathed out weakly.

The two other occupants in the room stopped for a second,

Bridgette's hands were still over her eyes and she didn't see when Owen turned to her with a hand to his chin while he thoughtfully evaluated Courtney's words.

Finally, he shrugged, "Well, when you say obvious, does you moaning out 'Duncan, ughh Duncan, oh fuck, Duncan!' count?"

Courtney could kill herself.

The two of them were in here while she was going through that. _Duncan _may have been in here when she was going through that.

Someone please shoot her now.

"I know this may be a bad time to ask, but were you on top in that dream?" Owen innocently inquired with a smile that Courtney immediately glared at, "Why the hell would you want to know that, you little pervert!?"

"Oh my god. Can we just please, and when I say please, I mean _please_ drop this topic!? We can act like this never happened, okay!? Because this is really embarrassing and I kind of want to die right now!" Bridgette piped in nervously, her face still hadn't calmed down from her apparent discomfort.

Courtney blandly stared at her, "_You _want to die? You're not the one that just had a wet dream about Duncan and had two people stand to hear the end of it." At the end of her words, she gave a groan as her throat began to grow irritated. With her hand balled into a fist, she doubled over to start coughing once more, this time more powerful that before.

Hearing her distress, Bridgette instantly dropped her hands from her face to rush toward Courtney. She dropped to the side of the bed and picked up a cup of water that she immediately offered to her. Courtney attempted to calm her coughs to no avail and she simply took the water in hand until her lungs gave way.

Taking a quick drink from the cup, Courtney held her throat lightly while glaring over at Owen, "You two will _never _take what you heard outside of this room. Do you hear me?"

Blinking in confusion, Owen glanced around, "Wait. Why are you staring at me!? What about Bridgette!?"

"I can trust Bridgette not to go running her mouth to Beth, but knowing you, you'd probably go running off to Geoff or DJ. Knowing them, they'd tell Duncan and then my life would officially be _over_." Courtney briefly explained with a moan.

She couldn't handle the thought of Duncan have the satisfaction in knowing Courtney had a sexual dream about him.

That was a huge no.

She was a princess for fuck's sake! She couldn't even believe her mind was concocting something as disturbing as that!

Reasonably, Courtney had a feeling it had to do with the smidge detail that Duncan had been known to harass her sexually.

She also had a fever.

That was the only explanation.

"Why would it be over?" Owen's eyebrows furrowed as he took a seat on the bed with a confused expression, "Duncan wouldn't be mad. I think he'd be _happy _you're dreaming of him like that!"

Courtney shook her head rapidly, "No. No. No. No."

"But… Last night you and Duncan made up. Don't you like him?" The Irishman sounded genuinely bewildered and when Courtney made eye contact with him, she almost felt bad for crushing whatever strange hope Owen had in regards to that little thought.

"Yeah, we made up." Courtney muttered,

She found herself at a loss on how to answer the blond's question though.

Courtney wasn't even sure if she liked Duncan as a _friend_.

The main reason she wanted to apologize to Duncan in the first place was just so she wouldn't die, right?

Did she like Duncan? Everyone always told her that Duncan liked her… Courtney felt sympathetic to the male's tragedy; that was a fact. Though enough for them to even be considered friends that was probably going overboard?

She had been given an apology, _twice_ from Duncan. A gift that Courtney could certainly bet her life wasn't given to more people than she could count on her hand.

That Duncan she had been able to witness all vulnerable was easily comparable to the one she had seen back in the shopping centre in Ireland where she had been all reminiscent over his deceased sister, which showed Courtney that Duncan was more than capable of displaying love for someone.

"I guess I like him." The royal truthfully voiced, "I'm not sure."

Owen brightened up with a grin and Bridgette smiled gently.

"I mean, can I really _like_ a man after he's imprisoned me and held me captive?" Courtney reasonably questioned with a humorless smile to her face.

The Irishman pouted, "But you're not a captive! You get to walk around and have fun! You're not chained to a wall or anything!"

Courtney tried not to relapse back into Duncan's punishment, and when she nearly did, she found herself wondering with confusion, "I haven't been asleep for days, have I?" She cringed, the thought as her stomach began growling in hungry, "Everything I remember happened last night, right?"

Nodding, Owen said, "You mean in between your huge fall out on deck and everything? Yeah. You've only been asleep for one night, but it's pretty late into the day already so your fever kept you sleeping." He briefly informed.

Courtney let out a breath of relief, "Great… Well, not the fever part because I feel like shit. Where is Duncan by the way?" She curiously asked, and immediately after, the door began to open.

All three turned to the entrance and Courtney half expected to see Duncan pop in because the pirate captain always seemed to have such excellent timing when it came to things like that, but instead it was Geoff. The blond looked around the room in what appeared to be absolute wonder before he allowed his eyes to gaze toward the bed where the three were gathered.

He held an accusing finger Owen's way and the blond gave a small noise of surprise while burying his face into his shirt's collar.

"Owen, don't think I'm not still mad at you for earlier."

"I said I was sorry!" The Irish boy whined out into his clothes,

Geoff scoffed and he turned to look at Bridgette politely, "Beth wants you for something."

Eyes wide, Bridgette blinked, "We already passed the rogue ship? So soon?" She asked in disbelief while moving toward the door.

That caught Courtney by surprise as she watched around, "Wait, we were passing a rogue ship!?" Her words came out a bit more powerful than she would have liked, and she was reminded of her sicker condition when her throat became hoarse toward the end.

She remembered the last time they did.

When Duncan shot down that pirate before her eyes after she foolishly ran out when she really shouldn't have.

"Yeah. It was real quick. Duncan's familiar with the captain of The Golden Pearl. So business was dealt with pretty quickly and I think they were just catching up on other stuff." Geoff shrugged, "We're trusted, so I didn't have to guard the bridge for as long. But DJ's there as a precaution."

The brief explanation made Courtney nod slowly.

So that was why Duncan sent Bridgette to be with her while she slept, the pirate captain had to attend to the matters outside of the ship—

That also meant that Duncan had to have been in here with her before then.

"Bridgette, did you take my over shirt off?" Courtney questioned before the female completely exited the room.

Bridgette glanced backward with furrowed brows, "Uh, no. It was like that when I came in. I thought you took it off because your fever had you hot and all."

Owen smiled into his hand, "I'm assuming you didn't take your shirt off."

"No."

"I'm also assuming Duncan did it."

"More than likely."

"So maybe when he was doing your dream started—"

"STOP!" Courtney silenced with a leer the snickering Irishman's way.

Groaning at the male's immaturity, Courtney tried to rest her back against the wall behind her with a stubborn glare down at her lap.

She actually wouldn't put it past her body to do something as unbelievably betraying as that. In her dream, she could barely remember it exactly, but when she and Duncan were touching it felt good. That's how it felt in reality too. So maybe Duncan's touches while she slept triggered the hormonal part of her brain while she slept.

That must have been it.

And the fever.

"On the topic of Duncan," Geoff began with a smile as he took a seat beside Owen on the bed. He ruffled the blond's hair and moved his head to the side in an effort to gaze at Courtney properly, "Whatever you two did in here last night must have really been something."

"Eh, what do you mean?" The brunette unsurely inquired making Geoff shake his head, "He got no sleep last night but he was so… So…"

Owen raised a finger upward with an eyebrow arched, "Duncan?"

Geoff snapped his fingers, "Yes. He was so Duncan!" He grinned Courtney's way, "It was a good thing. When you were getting your um, punishment, Duncan was more detached from the rest of us. He seemed ready to snap and just explode on anyone when they brought him out of his thoughts. Now, he's back to being calculated and composed. When you look at him, it's hard to read his emotions, which is how it used to be. I think things are looking up now actually."

Not entirely sure on what say, Courtney blinked, "He got no sleep last night? How do you know?" She blandly inquired, and it came to her attention once more that the bed she slept in was Duncan's. She didn't give much thought to where Duncan normally slept because as long as he had somewhere to sleep, it was all okay.

Now, she was a bit curious.

"I've known Duncan for a while. I _know _when he gets no sleep." Geoff answered with a nod.

As an afterthought he sighed, "Also, I want to say sorry on DJ's behalf for his completely _insane _plan last night."

Courtney scoffed at the mention of it with a shake to her head, "Its fine." She wobbled her left arm from under the covers. Duncan's shirt was still wrapped around it, "It doesn't hurt as much."

"DJ's plan may have been crazy, but it worked!" Owen threw in,

Before Courtney could retort to how that didn't exactly make it any better, the door to the bedroom opened once more.

All of the males moved their attention to the entrance curiously to the newcomer and the moment that Courtney saw the familiar figure she dropped her gaze to her bed sheets painfully.

"Hey, Duncan."

"Whoa. The ship's already moving again?"

Owen held his arms outward in amazement, "I didn't even notice!"

Courtney could hear Duncan sigh lowly, "Not good, Owen. You always need to know about your surroundings and what's going on with your environment." His words were like a teacher lecturing a student, and judging from Owen's soft whine, it was normal for him to be scolded into the pirate-like ways.

Groaning, Owen noticeably moved closer to the Irishman, "I was just yelling at him about that earlier."

"I said I was sorry!"

"Saying sorry doesn't change the fact that you need to carry something to protect yourself at all times! I don't care if it's uncomfortable! If you'd wear it more often, you'd get used to it! DJ and I won't always be there to protect you!"

"I know, but I don't need you both to protect me! I'm capable on my own!"

"Owen, you can hardly fight one person without getting hurt all over."

"Just because I'm not a master assassin like you and DJ, doesn't mean I'm not good at fighting! I'm still learning!"

"You just proved my point! If you're still learning, why _wouldn't _you have a weapon on you at all times?"

"You know, as much as I want to see how this quarrel will end, I don't." Duncan harshly intervened, "Continue it outside of my room, you two."

Both Owen and Geoff scowled at one another before stomping out of the room.

"You're too protective!"

"You're too arrogant!"

The door closed behind him and in the distance, Courtney swore she heard something crash in Duncan's study, but that was placed behind her as Duncan was suddenly sitting right beside her on the mattress. Feeling the feather haired captain's gaze over her, the princess instinctively raised the sheet to cover more of herself.

After a couple moments of silence, Courtney cleared her throat, "If you get too close you may catch this fever."

"I won't. So how are you feeling?" Duncan questioned back instantly, his hand went over Courtney's and forcibly pushed it down in an effort to get a look at her chest.

Courtney prepared to protest, but Duncan's cool hand was brushing against her front lightly and she found herself biting her bottom lip tightly.

Her dream.

She tried to push those thoughts away.

"A-alright." Courtney weakly muttered.

The pirate captain managed to keep away all traces of emotion from his face while he continued touching Courtney's chest firmly.

Duncan was truly attractive.

But it was as though he were a devil trapped in an angel's body.

A gorgeous face that hid nothing but cruelty.

When one of Duncan's fingers brushed over one of her nipples, Courtney found herself grunting while pulling backward.

She glared over at Duncan in annoyance, "Why do you even care?"

Duncan quirked a brow upward and Courtney struggled to find her words, "I mean, why are you even bothering with me? I'm a game piece to you in your game, remember? I don't matter. You're the creator of the game and I'm only an accessory. So why do you care?"

Her words were winded, and she had to put her hand to her mouth to catch her coughs.

Visibly, Courtney watched Duncan's neutral tight facial expression move downward ever so slightly, an action that made Courtney grimace into her hand.

"As a pirate captain, you learn that when you're on the brink of tearing someone down, you hit them right where it hurts them the most. It makes them more open and easier to put under your control."

The explanation was simple and to the point.

Courtney found herself understanding instantly, but if Duncan only said that to get Courtney easier to handle… Then that meant that she meant something to him?

"Do I _really _mean something to you?" Courtney asked the older male that exhaled heavily, her eyes glancing away, "You're not a game piece to me, Courtney."

Courtney kind of expected her words to go ignored in the form of that more cryptic answer, but she couldn't deny the strange feeling entering her stomach with Duncan's own statement.

If Courtney wasn't a game piece… What was she?

She wanted to ask, get the words out of her mouth to get an answer upfront, but for some odd reason she couldn't do it.

Duncan pulled back now, his arms folding over his chest as he watched Courtney simply, "That aside, I must say I'm curious, Princess. Were you killing me in your sleep earlier?"`

* * *

**A/N: So I've been told that there were different names in the earlier chapters, and I apologize for that but every time I try to correct them, they always go back to how they were before. And to clear things up, Courtney is seventeen while Duncan is nineteen. **


End file.
